Maternal activities with children: does birth spacing matter
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[1] Bielefeld University
Bielefeld University
Kreisfreie Stadt Bielefeld, Alemania
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- Localización: II International Conference Familiy and Society / Rita Cavallotti Oldani (ed. lit.), Consuelo León Llorente (ed. lit.), 2015, ISBN 978-84-606-8395-7, págs. 629-642
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
Pooled data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study and from the Families in Germany (FID) study was used to investigate the effect of sibling age gap on frequency of cognitively stimulating activities undertaken by mothers with their oldest and youngest children, aged 2-3 (N=1985) and 5-6 (N=1413), respectively. Two opposing hypotheses can be made concerning birth spacing: Siblings close in age may compete for maternal time or, on the contrary, profit from scale effects because the mother can combine age-appropriate activities. Additionally, at different ages, siblings are connected to varying institutions, which may influence the mother’s decisions about distribution of time resources. Until the older sibling reaches at least (pre-)school age, age does not affect activity frequencies. Results of regression analyses also indicate that the institutional contexts of the life stage of each sibling and the interrelated lives of family members, especially siblings, have to be considered.
