It’s About Time: Parent’s Direct Care for Children in Hispanic Noncitizen Households Across State Immigration Policy Contexts

Abstract

Is parent’s direct care for children more common in state contexts with inclusive policies toward immigrants? If so, among whom do we find such a relationship? We analyze American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data between 2010 and 2019 to investigate whether daily routines involving parent’s direct care for children (e.g., playtime, sports, reading, etc.) vary with different immigration policy contexts. Among parents responding to the ATUS, we find that Hispanic parents in Hispanic noncitizen households are more likely to report having engaged in direct care for their children if they live in states with more inclusive policies toward immigrants. No comparable results apply to households with no Hispanic noncitizens, including non-Hispanic parents (White, Black, or Asian) or Hispanic citizen parents in U.S. citizen households. Our work identifies a possible route to increase the pool of parents engaging in direct care: recent state policies designed to integrate immigrants. Providing Hispanic noncitizen households with a combination of resources and support may help promote direct care for children, including time devoted to children’s developmental care.