https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X211017932
Journal of Family Issues
1–27
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/0192513X211017932
journals.sagepub.com/home/jfi
Original Article
Parents’ Sleep Across
Weekdays and
Weekends: The Influence
of Work, Housework,
and Childcare Time
Leah Ruppanner
1
, Ben Maltby
1
,
Belinda Hewitt
1
, and David Maume
2
Abstract
Children increase time demands with important consequences for sleep.
Here, we test whether parents’ paid and unpaid time demands and the
presence of young children equally reduce mothers’ and fathers’ sleep,
comparing the married/cohabiting to unmarried. Applying data from the
American Time Use Survey (ATUS, 2003–2016), we find married/cohabiting
mothers report less sleep when young children or multiple children are
present; they are employed; their spouses are employed; and they spend
more time in housework and childcare. By contrast, unmarried mothers
report less sleep when children are present because of their larger domestic
loads. For married/cohabiting fathers, the presence of multiple children is
associated with less sleep but doing more housework results in more sleep.
Finally, unmarried fathers’ employment time explains the association of
children on their sleep. Parents report a sleep deficit relative to the childless
but the reasons vary by gender and the co-presence of a partner.
Keywords
sleep, gender, work, housework, social interaction, gender display
1
Department of Sociology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2
Department of Sociology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Corresponding Author:
Leah Ruppanner, Department of Sociology, University of Melbourne, Grattan Street,
Melbourne, Victoria 3003, Australia.
Email: leah.ruppanner@unimelb.edu.au
1017932JFI XX X 10.1177/0192513X211017932Journal of Family IssuesRuppanner et al.
research-article 2021