Page 44 - TLU magazine - The Way to The Top

44
TALLINN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE / NO. 14 / SPRING 2020
HOW FAMILIES USE
THEIR TIME–
choice or necessity?
Time is a limited resource for us; therefore, the way it is used it is not insignificant. The amount of time partners spend together affects both the quality and the stability of the relationship, while the time spent with children affects their wellbeing, behaviour and learning outcomes. Associate Professor of Sociology at Tallinn University Kadri Täht stud- ied household time use over the last four years.
Time use studies have been conducted for quite some time. Despite the fact that we have data from two large Estonian studies, we know very little about its organisation.
What exactly did you study?
Households' time use in Estonia, more precisely the distribution of time and tasks, which is mainly related to the home and raising chil- dren. More generally, I and other researchers wondered if and to what extent the use of time within households is a so-called "free choice" or a forced necessity.
How do researchers investigate the use of time?
Statistics Estonia collects data for the Estonian time use survey (AKU) and the last survey con- ducted in 2009 involved 3000 households with just over 8000 members.
Each household member over the age of 10 keeps a time log, which records their activities with 10 minute precision during 24 hours. In addition, of course, socio-demographic back- ground information is collected. For research- ers, the greatest value of this study is the data collected in the time log.
We conducted a qualitative survey and inter- viewed couples who had at least one 3–6-year- old child growing up in their household at
the time of the survey. We interviewed both Estonian and Russian families. In total, we
conducted 96 interviews. We examined time spent with children and household choices in organising children's time and activities.
How did you study more specifically how much parents, for example, spend time with their children and partners?
All activities in the time log are coded. Codes are, for example, for activities such as "child- care", "playing with children, reading to them, etc.", "chaperoning a child", etc. We can esti- mate the average time spent on these activities per day. Also, when is this activity done. Iden- tifying time spent with partners is, of course, more difficult as time is measured through activities and there is no general category such as "I spent time with my partner" in this data. However, we get an idea of the time spent by partners in the same household on various activities (e.g. chores or time spent with chil- dren). In addition, whether and to what extent they are different or similar and whether or not their time use patterns overlap and what might explain those patterns.
What are the most important and exciting results?
It turned out that the various theories on the use of time and activity within the household do not seem to be confirmed in the Estonian data, more precisely the fact that if you have more resources, you can "talk yourself out of " chores.