Marriage and Housework: Analyzing the Effects of Education Using the 2011 and 2016 Japanese Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities

We analyze cross-sectional time-use diaries from the 2011 and 2016 Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities (Shakai Seikatsu Kihon Chosa) to investigate the association between educational level and housework participation in contexts where educational attainment among women does not readily translate into workforce stability. We test whether higher levels of educational attainment are associated with the decrease in housework participation as the previous research in countries of the global north suggests. Our findings reveal that education is not likely to reduce housework participation among Japanese women. Married Japanese women with children are unlikely to reduce their time spent on housework with the increase of their educational level and married Japanese women without children are more likely to increase their housework participation proportionately to the level of their education. The results suggest that in Japan, the supply-side solutions to gender inequality (such as increasing educational opportunities for women) do not remedy the situation. The country needs to address structural and institutional barriers to gender equality.

Download Full-text

Unconditional Quantile Regression Approach: Effects of Education on Housework Time in the US and Japan

Social Sciences ◽

10.3390/socsci9120235 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (12) ◽

pp. 235

Author(s):

Kamila Kolpashnikova ◽

Man-Yee Kan

Keyword(s):

Educational Attainment ◽

Time Use ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

Japanese Women ◽

Married Women ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

American Time Use Survey ◽

Highly Educated ◽

The Us ◽

Time Use Survey

We compare the association between educational attainment and housework participation among single and married women in Japan and the US. Using the cross-sectional time-use diaries from the 2006 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and the 2006 Japanese Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities (STULA) and unconditional quantile regressions (UQR), we test whether educational attainment is associated with less time spent on housework in Japan compared to the US. We find that this assumption stands only for American women and non-married Japanese women. However, married Japanese women are unlikely to reduce participation in housework with an increase in their educational level. Married Japanese women are more likely to do more housework proportionately to the level of their education. The findings reveal the presence of a marriage penalty among highly educated Japanese women. In Japan, the institute of marriage places higher expectations regarding women’s housework participation on married women with higher levels of education, thereby penalising Japanese women with higher educational attainments. Our findings illustrate that the tenets of the resource-based and gender-centred frameworks developed based on the empirical findings in Western countries cannot always directly apply to the patterns observed in East Asia.

Download Full-text

Marriage Penalty: Unconditional Quantile Regression of Housework Participation in Japan

10.31219/osf.io/5qdwy ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kamila Kolpashnikova ◽

Man-Yee Kan ◽

Kiyomi Shirakawa

Keyword(s):

Quantile Regression ◽

Time Use ◽

Educational Level ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

Japanese Women ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Highly Educated ◽

Unconditional Quantile Regression ◽

Marriage Penalty ◽

Quantile Regression Method

We analyze cross-sectional time-use diaries from the 2011 and 2016 Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities (Shakai Seikatsu Kihon Chosa) to investigate the association between educational level and housework participation at different quantiles. Using the unconditional quantile regression method, we test whether education is associated with less time spent on housework as the previous research on highly educated people suggests. We find that this hypothesis stands only for non-married Japanese women. On the other hand, among married Japanese women, especially those without children in higher deciles of housework participation, are more likely to increase their participation in housework with the increase in their educational level. The results suggest that in Japan, the institute of marriage places higher expectations on women’s housework participation on married women with higher levels of education.

Download Full-text

Association of Leisure Activities With Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Older Adults in Colombia: A SABE-Based Study

Frontiers in Neurology ◽

10.3389/fneur.2021.629251 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Alejandra Guerrero Barragán ◽

Diego Lucumí ◽

Brian Lawlor

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Educational Attainment ◽

Protective Factor ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

Later Life ◽

Multinomial Regression ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

State Examination

Observational and interventional studies suggest that participation in leisure activities may help protect against cognitive decline in older people. This study aimed to examine the association between participation in leisure activities and cognitive impairment in older adults in Colombia. Data for this study were derived from the Colombian National Survey of Aging (SABE 2015), a cross-sectional survey with a sample size of 23,694 older adults representing the total population (mean age, 70.8 years; 57.3% females). Cognitive impairment was classified as cognitive impairment without dementia (CIWD) and dementia, according to the revised version of the Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination and the Lawton and Brody functional scale. Leisure activities were evaluated using six items of a questionnaire. Sex-stratified multinomial regression models were used to analyze the association of leisure activities with CIWD and dementia after adjusting for educational attainment, literacy, and other potential confounders. In adjusted models for men, leisure activities in later life were associated with a decreased risk of CIWD (odds ratio [OR], 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.68–0.78) and dementia (OR, 0,52; 95% CI, 0.48–0.58). For women, leisure activities in later life were associated with a decreased risk of CIWD (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.66–0.78) and dementia (OR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.43–0.53). The findings suggest that greater participation in leisure activities in later life may act as a protective factor against CIWD and dementia among older adults in Colombia, independent of educational attainment and literacy.

Download Full-text

Leisure Quality among German Parents—Exploring Urbanity, Mobility, and Partner Interaction as Determinants

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13115883 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 5883

Author(s):

Bhuvanachithra Chidambaram ◽

Joachim Scheiner

Keyword(s):

Time Use ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

Job Characteristics ◽

Paid Work ◽

Residential Areas ◽

Family Obligations ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Time Use Survey ◽

Partner Interaction ◽

Spatial Attributes

Individuals with family obligations concurrently perform unpaid tasks. In particular, parents often multitask childcare during leisure, leading to low-quality leisure. In this study, we explored leisure quality by measuring pure and contaminated (i.e., leisure combined with childcare) leisure for German parents (lone versus partnered) by considering five diverse factors: demographics, job characteristics, spatial and travel attributes, time use perception/preferences, and gendering of partner interactions. We used the cross-sectional German Time Use Survey 2012/13 data and employed regression analysis. Four important findings of the study are: (a) across groups, women have the highest levels of contaminated leisure, while men have the highest levels of pure leisure; (b) for both lone and partnered respondents, spatial attributes (less dense residential areas), travel attributes (paid work trips, unpaid work trips, number of cars, travel by public transport) negatively determine both pure and contaminated leisure; (c) for partnered respondents, driving is positively associated with contaminated leisure; (d) partner’s time spent on childcare negatively affects women’s pure leisure but positively relates to their contaminated leisure, while partner’s time spent on leisure activities positively affects men’s pure leisure and contaminated leisure.

Download Full-text

Investigating the temporal changes in the relationships between time spent on the internet and non-mandatory activity-travel time use

Transportation ◽

10.1007/s11116-021-10174-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Guoqiang Wu ◽

Jinhyun Hong ◽

Piyushimita Thakuriah

Keyword(s):

Travel Time ◽

Time Use ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Activity Patterns ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

Household Survey ◽

Temporal Changes ◽

The Internet ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Over Time

AbstractThe amount of time we spend online has been increasing dramatically, influencing our daily travel and activity patterns. However, empirical studies on changes in the extent to which the amount of time spent online are related to changes in our activity and travel patterns are scarce, mainly due to a lack of available longitudinal or quasi-longitudinal data. This paper explores how the relationships between the time spent using the Internet, and the time spent on non-mandatory maintenance and leisure activities, have evolved over a decade. Maintenance activities include out-of-home activities such as shopping, banking, and doctor visits, while leisure activities include entertainment activities, visiting friends, sporting activities, and so forth. Our approach uses two datasets from two major cross-sectional surveys in Scotland, i.e. the 2005/06 Scottish Household Survey (SHS) and the 2015 Integrated Multimedia City Data (iMCD) Survey, which were similarly structured and formed. The multiple discrete–continuous extreme value (MDCEV) model and difference-in-differences (DD) estimation are applied and integrated to examine how the relationships between the time spent on the Internet and travel have changed over time and the direction and magnitude of the changes. Our findings suggest that the complementary associations between Internet use and individuals’ non-mandatory activity-travel time use are diminishing over time, whereas their substitutive associations are increasing. We additionally find that such temporal changes are significant in the case of those who spent moderate to high levels of time on the Internet (5 h or more online) per week.

Download Full-text

Teenage Time Use and Educational Attainment in Adulthood in Finland

Social Sciences ◽

10.3390/socsci10090343 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 343

Author(s):

Satu Ojala ◽

Man-Yee Kan ◽

Tomi Oinas

Keyword(s):

Educational Attainment ◽

Extracurricular Activities ◽

Time Use ◽

Educational Outcomes ◽

Social Connectedness ◽

Tertiary Education ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

The Family ◽

Time Use Survey

We investigated the role of teenage everyday social ties in educational outcomes by examining the association between teenage time use and educational attainment in adulthood. The sample consisted of young people aged 10–18 from the 1979 Finnish Time Use Survey, and the same respondents’ educational attainment later in life recorded from population register data at the year of 40th birthday (n = 366 men and 393 women). We assessed the associations of time spent with the parents, on studying, leisure activities, as well as social connectedness with friends and participation in extracurricular activities, with educational outcomes. Our findings indicated that time spent with the father is positively associated with the likelihood of completing tertiary education for both daughters and sons. In particular, time spent with lower-education fathers was associated with teenagers’ future tertiary education. However, intense friendships and participation in extracurricular activities were not associated with academic achievement later in life. The findings suggest that educational attainment is partly explained by teenage time spent with the family. Less-educated fathers can enhance the attainment of higher education of their children by spending more time with their teenage children.

Download Full-text

Socioeconomic Status and Housework: Cultural Differences in Participation in Routine Housework in Japan, Canada, and the US

10.31219/osf.io/9tfce ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Kamila Kolpashnikova ◽

Ryota Chiba ◽

Kiyomi Shirakawa

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Time Use ◽

Negative Binomial ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

General Social Survey ◽

Negative Binomial Regression ◽

American Time Use Survey ◽

The Us ◽

Time Use Survey ◽

Global North

The assumption about socioeconomic status (SES) and participation in housework are based on the empirical results in Western countries. As such, SES is assumed to work in a similar way in other regions as it does in the countries of the global north. This assumption can often lead to misguided interpretations of the effects of SES on housework participation in other cultural contexts. One such exception is Japan. We analyze time-use diaries from the American Time Use Survey for the period from 2003 to 2016, 1986-2010 Canadian General Social Survey, and the 2006 Japan Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities (社会生活基本調査). Using the negative binomial regression, we test whether SES is associated with less time spent on housework as the outsourcing hypothesis predicts. The findings show that this hypothesis stands only for Canadian and American women, whereas married Japanese women are unlikely to reduce their participation in housework with the increase of their SES.

Download Full-text

Perceived Voice Disorders in Older Adults and Impact on Social Interactions

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/2020_persp-20-00059 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Connie K. Porcaro ◽

Clare Singer ◽

Boris Djokic ◽

Ali A. Danesh ◽

Ruth Tappen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Social Engagement ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

Treatment Strategies ◽

Voice Disorders ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Vocal Performance ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Cross Sectional

Purpose Many aging individuals, even those who are healthy, report voice changes that can impact their ability to communicate as they once did. While this is commonly reported, most do not seek evaluation or management for this issue. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and differences in voice disorders in older adults, along with the effect of fatigue on their social interactions. Method This is a cross-sectional investigation of a community-dwelling sample of individuals aged 60 years or older. Participants completed the Questionnaire on Vocal Performance, the Social Engagement Index subset “Engagement in Social or Leisure Activities,” and the Fatigue Severity Scale. Results Results indicated 32.5% of the 332 participants reported symptoms of voice problems with no difference found between male and female respondents. A slight increase in report of voice problems was noted with each year of age. Participants who self-reported voice problems indicated less interaction in social activities involving communication than those who did not. Finally, as severity of self-reported voice problems increased, an increase was reported by the same individuals for signs of fatigue. Conclusions Voice problems and resulting decreased social interaction are commonly experienced by older individuals. Voice symptoms in older adults have been found to benefit from evidence-based treatment strategies. It is critical to provide education to encourage older individuals to seek appropriate evaluation and management for voice issues through a speech-language pathologist or medical professional.

Download Full-text

Factors Associated with Lower Cognitive Performance Scores Among Older Japanese Men in Hawaii and Japan

Journal of Alzheimer s Disease ◽

10.3233/jad-201084 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Naoko Miyagawa ◽

Takayoshi Ohkubo ◽

Akira Fujiyoshi ◽

Akihiko Shiino ◽

Randi Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Educational Attainment ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Subclinical Atherosclerosis ◽

Lifestyle Factors ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Multivariable Logistic Regression Analysis ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Japanese Men ◽

History Of ◽

Cardiometabolic Factors

Background: Few studies have compared factors related to cognitive function among people with similar genetic backgrounds but different lifestyles. Objective: We aimed to identify factors related to lower cognitive scores among older Japanese men in two genetically similar cohorts exposed to different lifestyle factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study of community-dwelling Japanese men aged 71–81 years included 2,628 men enrolled in the Kuakini Honolulu-Asia Aging Study based in Hawaii and 349 men in the Shiga Epidemiological Study of Subclinical Atherosclerosis based in Japan. We compared participant performance through Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI) assessment in Hawaii (1991–1993) and Japan (2009–2014). Factors related to low cognitive scores (history of cardiovascular disease, cardiometabolic factors, and lifestyle factors) were identified with questionnaires and measurements. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of a low (< 82) CASI score based on different factors. Results: CASI scores were lower in Hawaii than in Japan [21.2%(n = 556) versus 12.3%(n = 43), p < 0.001], though this was not significant when adjusted for age and educational attainment (Hawaii 20.3%versus Japan 17.9%, p = 0.328). History of stroke (OR = 1.65, 95%confidence interval = 1.19–2.29) was positively associated with low cognitive scores in Hawaii. Body mass index ≥25 kg/m2 tended to be associated with low cognitive scores in Japan; there was a significant interaction between the cohorts. Conclusion: Cognitive scores differences between cohorts were mostly explained by differences in educational attainment. Conversely, cardiovascular diseases and cardiometabolic factors differentially impacted cognitive scores among genetically similar older men exposed to different lifestyle factors.

Download Full-text

Association between the Sociodemographic Characteristics of Parents with Health-Related and Lifestyle Markers of Children in Three Different Spanish-Speaking Countries: An Inter-Continental Study at OECD Country Level

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13082672 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 2672

Author(s):

Cristian Álvarez ◽

Iris Paola Guzmán-Guzmán ◽

Pedro Ángel Latorre-Román ◽

Juan Párraga-Montilla ◽

Constanza Palomino-Devia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Marital Status ◽

Educational Level ◽

Handgrip Strength ◽

After School ◽

Full Potential ◽

Socioeconomic Level ◽

Inverse Association ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Low Socioeconomic ◽

Spanish Speaking

The purpose of this cross-cultural study was to determine the association between the sociodemographic background of a child’s parents (i.e., their socioeconomic level, marital status, and educational level) with the child’s lifestyle (i.e., Mediterranean diet (MD), physical activity (PA) and screen time (ST)), and health markers. Material: This cross-sectional study included 1273 children, from Chile (n = 496), Colombia (n = 340), and Spain (n = 437). The sociodemographic information together with the lifestyle and health markers of the children were measured. There was an inverse association between a low or medium-low socioeconomic level for the parents of Chilean children and handgrip strength (β −0.61, p < 0.001); meanwhile, for Spanish children, an inverse association between a low or medium-low socioeconomic level and PA after school (β −0.58, p = 0.016), lifestyle (β −0.74, p = 0.015), and with MD adherence (β −0.86, p = 0.004) was found. The risk (i.e., by odd ratios (OR)) of being divorced/separated parents marital status showed an inverse association with abdominal obesity (OR 0.21, p = 0.045) in Spanish children; however, the parent’s marital status and a low educational level were risk factors for the suffering of a low nutritional level in Colombian children (OR 2.02, p = 0.048; OR 2.49, p < 0.001, respectively). On the other hand, a low educational level for parents reported for Chilean children had a positive association with ST of ≥4 h per day (OR 1.82, p = 0.020). In conclusion, in Spanish-speaking children, the lifestyle and health markers of the children are affected by the sociodemographic background of their parents; however, these effects could be moderated by the socio-cultural and economic status of their countries as members of the OCDE; therefore, it is essential to develop policies that decrease these gaps, so that children who are under-resourced can reach their full potential.

Download Full-text