RAPID:Working Parents and Childcare during the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic
- Funded by National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Total publications:0 publications
Grant number: unknown
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Key facts
Disease
COVID-19Start & end year
20202021Known Financial Commitments (USD)
$66,375Funder
National Science Foundation (NSF)Principal Investigator
Mary NoonanResearch Location
United States of AmericaLead Research Institution
University of IowaResearch Priority Alignment
N/A
Research Category
Secondary impacts of disease, response & control measures
Research Subcategory
Social impacts
Special Interest Tags
N/A
Study Type
Non-Clinical
Clinical Trial Details
N/A
Broad Policy Alignment
Pending
Age Group
Adults (18 and older)
Vulnerable Population
Unspecified
Occupations of Interest
Unspecified
Abstract
In March 2020, most public schools and day care centers across the U.S. closed in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19. Non-essential businesses and organizations also closed their on-site buildings, requiring many employees to work from home. Essential workers (e.g., health care providers, grocery clerks) continued working on-site. This created a unique situation in which working parents needed to find ? or provide themselves - childcare coverage for a large portion of the day for an unknown period. The purpose of this project is to examine how working parents managed the care of their children in the context of day care and school closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Findings from the project will inform policies for several levels of government and many businesses related to child-care provisions during extreme events, but also during economic recovery and beyond. As such project findings will provide information to support economic competitiveness, health and well-being in our society.
How families with children manage child-care ties to issues of labor supply, which is important during the current pandemic as well as key to economic productivity generally. The project has two objectives. First, the project will collect nationally representative survey data on a sample (n=2,500) of working parents during early May 2020, approximately two months after most day care centers and schools closed. Importantly, the data will include detailed information on parents? childcare arrangements (e.g., type, hours, cost), work lives (e.g., hours worked, location of work), family lives (e.g., number of residential parents and employed parents), and time spent on core daily activities (e.g., childcare, helping children with schoolwork, leisure, sleep) both pre- and post-day care center and school closure. Married and cohabiting respondents will also be asked to report on their partners? work lives and time spent on daily activities. Second, the project will use these data to provide a rigorous understanding of how this childcare ?shock? altered working parents? daily lives. The project will use STATA to perform a variety of statistical analyses, including t-tests, correlations, and regression analyses. The project will inform sociological theories regarding the effects of family structure, gender and job requirements on household decision making, including labor supply and tradeoffs between work and family activities.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
How families with children manage child-care ties to issues of labor supply, which is important during the current pandemic as well as key to economic productivity generally. The project has two objectives. First, the project will collect nationally representative survey data on a sample (n=2,500) of working parents during early May 2020, approximately two months after most day care centers and schools closed. Importantly, the data will include detailed information on parents? childcare arrangements (e.g., type, hours, cost), work lives (e.g., hours worked, location of work), family lives (e.g., number of residential parents and employed parents), and time spent on core daily activities (e.g., childcare, helping children with schoolwork, leisure, sleep) both pre- and post-day care center and school closure. Married and cohabiting respondents will also be asked to report on their partners? work lives and time spent on daily activities. Second, the project will use these data to provide a rigorous understanding of how this childcare ?shock? altered working parents? daily lives. The project will use STATA to perform a variety of statistical analyses, including t-tests, correlations, and regression analyses. The project will inform sociological theories regarding the effects of family structure, gender and job requirements on household decision making, including labor supply and tradeoffs between work and family activities.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.