Educated Parents Spend More Time with Their Children

How much time do you devote to your children? Do you get to help with their homework every night, or do you barely have enough time to say good night before they have to go to bed? Do you see them every day after school, or do you only see them on weekends? Finding the time to interact with your children seems like an issue of time management, but an ongoing research shows that your educational background might have something to do to how much or how little you spend time with your kids.

A working paper by Christina Borra (Spain) and Almudena Sevilla-Sanz (Oxford University) has found evidence to support the theory that educated parents are more involved with their children than those who have not pursued higher education. Their research reveals that mothers with a higher educational background spend about 10 to 20 minutes more a day with their children than mothers who have only taken, say, basic education. The highly educated fathers, on the other hand, spend 12 more minutes per day with their kids than their less-educated counterparts. 

By analyzing datasets of 12 countries from 1965 to 2008, Borra and Sanz were able to identify highly educated parents as those who are more involved with their children’s growth. While the pattern has become varied over the years (in some countries weaker, in some countries stronger), the pattern has been more or less consistent. At the moment, there is no clear reason as to why highly educated parents are more hands-on with their kids, but Borra and Sanz are looking at increased concern over children and changing attitudes as some of the major influences for such a behavior.

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(Photo by rachaelwrites via Flickr Creative Commons)