Despite the efforts to achieve gender equality, there is still a difference, especially between women and men, in the everyday use of time and the associated effects on health and well-being. During the coronavirus pandemic, this became particularly clear for families, as women were increasingly confronted with the double burden of work and family, while men, on the other hand, experienced stress primarily due to career changes.

Time utilisation is an important factor for quality of life, also from the perspective of life-domain balance, with socio-demographic factors and gender in particular playing a role. Women still perform the majority of unpaid housework and childcare, while men are more active in paid work. Working women usually have less free time than men, and their free time is more often associated with caring responsibilities. Parents, especially women, are often faced with the challenge of carrying both the responsibility for their children and the household while at the same time doing paid work.

The study ‘Daily Time Use and Parents’ Quality of Life’ will therefore focus on the relationship between time use patterns and quality of life as well as well-being and stress in everyday life, with parents as the target group. The theoretical models and empirical studies that have so far described this relationship are incomplete - particularly with regard to situational, everyday factors - and are therefore to be supplemented by the Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) approach:

Participants fill out two questionnaires online, each lasting 30 minutes, on their use of time in everyday life, their quality of life and stress, one at the beginning of the study and another questionnaire after 7 days. Over the course of the week, i.e. between the two surveys, short surveys of 5 minutes each are also carried out four times a day via smartphone on their everyday experience. After completing the surveys, participants are also invited to take part in short (online) interviews lasting 30 minutes to talk about their experiences with the study and to develop possible support approaches for everyday life.

Interested?

Then get in touch with us: To the survey

If you have any questions, please contact us for further information:

Programme management:

Dr. Laura Altweck

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Samuel Tomczyk

elternzeituni-greifswaldde

Tel.: +49 (0)3834 420 3813