Measuring Maternal Nonstandard Work in Survey Data

• Author: Ariel Kalil,Rachel Dunifon,Danielle A. Crosby,Jessica Houston Su,Thomas DeLeire
• Date: 01 June 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12017
• Published date: 01 June 2013

RACHEL DUNIFON Cornell University

ARIEL KALIL University of Chicago∗

DANIELLE A. CROSBY The University of North Carolina at Greensboro∗∗

JESSICA HOUSTON SUCornell University∗∗∗

THOMAS DELEIRE University of Wisconsin∗∗∗∗

Measuring Maternal Nonstandard Work in Survey

Data

Surveys differ in the measurement of nonstan-

dard work, such that some surveys require

respondents to indicate whether they work

either a standard or a nonstandard schedule,

whereas others allow respondents to indicate

that they work both types of schedules. We test

whether these measurement decisions inf‌luence

the estimated prevalence of maternal nonstan-

dard work, using data from two sources: the

Current Population Survey ( N=1,430) and the

Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study

(N=2,524). Using propensity score techniques,

Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell

University, 248 MVR Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853

(red26@cornell.edu)

∗Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of

Chicago, 1155 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.

∗∗Department of Human Development and Family Studies,

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, P.O.

Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402-6170.

∗∗∗Department of Sociology, Cornell University, 323 Uris

Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853.

∗∗∗∗La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of

Wisconsin, 1225 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706.

This article was edited by Robert Crosnoe.

Key Words: Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing, maternal

employment, nonstandard work.

we f‌ind that giving respondents the option of

reporting work at more than one type of sched-

ule doubles the prevalence of nonstandard work,

compared to allowing respondents to indicate

only one type of schedule. Our results suggest

that many mothers of young children regularly

work at both standard and nonstandard times

and that mutually exclusive conceptualizations

of standard and nonstandard work schedules do

not fully capture their experiences.

Recent decades have seen a remarkable increase

in the labor force participation of women with

children; in 2010, 71% of all mothers worked

(Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011). In addition,

mothers increasingly hold jobs that involve

nonstandard schedules; that is, work hours in

the evening, at night, on weekends, or on an

irregular or rotating shift (McMenamin, 2007).

Data from the American Time Use Survey show

that 11.7% of mothers who were working on the

day of the time diary worked more than half of

their hours outside the day-shift hours of 8 a.m.

and 4 p.m., and 57.3% of such mothers spend

at least some of their working hours outside of

the 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. range (Connelly & Kimmel,

2007).

The variability of nonstandard schedules pre-

sents some challenges for survey measurement.

Journal of Marriage and Family 75 (June 2013): 523 –532 523

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12017