This study suggests that multitasking constitutes an important source of gender inequality, which can help explain previous findings that mothers feel more burdened and stressed than do fathers even when they have relatively similar workloads. Using data from the 500 Family Study, including surveys and the Experience Sampling Method, the study examines activities parents simultaneously engage in and how they feel when multitasking. We find that mothers spend 10 more hours a week multitasking compared to fathers and that these additional hours are mainly related to time spent on housework and childcare. For mothers, multitasking activities at home and in public are associated with an increase in negative emotions, stress, psychological distress, and work-family conflict. By contrast, fathers’ multitasking at home involves less housework and childcare and is not a negative experience. We also find several similarities by gender. Mothers’ and fathers’ multitasking in the company of a spouse or children are positive experiences, whereas multitasking at work, although associated with an increased sense of productivity, is perceived as a negative experience.
ArendellTeresa. 2001. “The New Care Work of Middle Class Mothers: Managing Childrearing, Employment, and Time.” Pp. 163–204 in Minding the Time in Family Experience: Emerging Perspectives and Issues, Vol. 3, edited by DalyK. J.Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
2.
BellaviaGina M.FroneMichael R.2005. “Work-Family Conflict.” Pp. 113–48 in Handbook of Work Stress, edited by BarlingJ.KellowayE. K.FroneM. R.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
3.
BianchiSuzanne M.MilkieMelissa A.SayerLiana C.RobinsonJohn P.2000. “Is Anyone Doing the Housework? Trends in the Gender Division of Labor.” Social Forces79:191–228.
4.
BianchiSuzanne M.RobinsonJohn P.MilkieMelissa A.2006. The Changing Rhythm of American Family Life. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
5.
BianchiSuzanne M.WightVanessa R.2010. “The Long Reach of the Job: Employment and Time for Family Life.” Pp. 14–42 in Workplace Flexibility: Realigning 20th-Century Jobs for a 21st-Century Workforce, edited by ChristensenK.SchneiderB.Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
6.
BittmanMichaelWajcmanJudy. 2000. “The Rush Hour: The Character of Leisure Time and Gender Equity.” Social Forces79:165–89.
7.
Blair-LoyMary. 2003. Competing Devotions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
8.
BurgessPaul W.2000. “Real-World Multitasking from a Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective.” Pp. 465–72 in Control of Cognitive Processes: Attention and Performance VVIII, edited by MonsellS.DriverJ.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
9.
BurgessPaul W.DumontheilIroiseGilbertSam J.OkudaJiroSchölvinckMarieke L.SimonsJon S.2008. “On the Role of Rostal Prefrontal Cortex (Area 10) in Prospective Memory.” Pp. 235–60 in Prospective Memory: Cognitive, Neuroscience, Developmental and Applied Perspectives, edited by KliegelM.McDanielM.EinsteinG.Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
10.
BurgessPaul W.EmmaVeitchde Lacy CostelloAngelaShalliceTim. 2000. “The Cognitive and Neuroanatomical Correlates of Multitasking.” Neuropsychologia38:848–63.
11.
ChristensenKathleenSchneiderBarbara. 2010. “Introduction: Evidence of the Worker and Workplace Mismatch.” Pp. 1–14 in Workplace Flexibility: Realigning 20th-Century Jobs for a 21st-Century Workforce, edited by ChristensenK.SchneiderB.Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
12.
CohenSheldonWilliamsonGail M.1988. “Perceived Stress in a Probability Sample of the United States.” Pp. 31–67 in The Social Psychology of Health: Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology 1987, edited by SpacapanS.OskampS.Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
13.
ColtraneScott. 2000. “Research on Household Labor: Modeling and Measuring the Social Embeddedness of Routine Family Work.” Journal of Marriage and Family62:1208–33.
14.
CraigLyn. 2006. “Does Father Care Mean Fathers Share? A Comparison of How Mothers and Fathers in Intact Families Spend Time with Children.” Gender and Society20:259–81.
15.
CraigLyn. 2007. “Is There Really a Second Shift, and If So, Who Does it? A Time-Diary Investigation.” Feminist Review86:149–70.
16.
CraigLynBittmanMichael. 2008. “The Incremental Time Costs of Children: An Analysis of Children’s Impact on Adult Time Use in Australia.” Feminist Economics14:59–88.
17.
CraigLynMullanKillianBlaxlandMegan. 2010. “Parenthood, Policy and Work-Family Time in Australia 1992–2006.” Work, Employment and Society24:27–45.
18.
CsikszentmihalyiMihalyLarsonReed. 1987. “Validity and Reliability of the Experience Sampling Method.” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease175:526–36.
19.
KerryDaly J.2002. “Time, Gender, and the Negotiation of Family Schedules.” Symbolic Interaction25:323–42.
20.
DarrahCharles N.FreemanJames M.English-LueckJ. A.2007. Busier Than Ever! Why American Families Can’t Slow Down. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
21.
DeVaultMarjorie L.1999. “Comfort and Struggle: Emotion Work in Family Life.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science561:52–63.
22.
DragoRobert W.StewartJay C.2010. “Time-Use Surveys: Issues in Data Collection on Multitasking.” Monthly Labor Review133:17–31.
23.
FroneMichael R.YardleyJohn K.MarkelKaren S.1997. “Developing and Testing an Integrative Model of the Work-Family Interface.” Journal of Vocational Behavior50:145–67.
24.
GalinskyEllenBondJames T.KimStacey S.BackonLoisBrownfieldErinSakaiKelly. 2005. Overwork in America: When the Way We Work Becomes Too Much. New York: Families and Work Institute.
25.
GornickJanet C.MeyersMarcia K.2003. Families That Work: Policies for Reconciling Parenthood and Employment. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
26.
HaysSharon. 1996. The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
HektnerJoel M.SchmidtJennifer A.CsikszentmihalyiMihaly. 2007. Experience Sampling Method: Measuring the Quality of Everyday Life. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
29.
HessingMelody. 1994. “More than Clockwork: Women’s Time Management in Their Combined Workloads.” Sociological Perspectives37:611–33.
30.
HillJeffrey E.2005. “Work-Family Facilitation and Conflict, Working Fathers and Mothers, Work-Family Stressors and Supports.” Journal of Family Issues26:793–819.
31.
HochschildArlie R.1989. The Second Shift. New York: Viking Penguin.
32.
HochschildArlie R.1997. The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work. New York: Metropolitan Books.
33.
HonakerJamesKingGaryBlackwellMatthew. 2009. Amelia II: A Program for Missing Data (Version 1.2-6). [Computer software]. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
34.
HoogstraLisa. 2005. “Design and Sample Characteristics of the 500 Family Study.” Pp. 23–48 in Being Together, Working Apart: Dual-Career Families and their Work-Life Balance, edited by SchneiderB.WaiteL. J.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
35.
IronmongerDuncan. 2004. “Bringing Up Bobby and Betty: The Inputs and Outputs of Childcare Time.” Pp. 93–109 in Family Time: The Social Organization of Care, edited by FolbreN.BittmanM.New York: Routledge.
36.
JacobsJerry A.GersonKathleen. 2004. The Time Divide: Work, Family, and Gender Inequality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
LareauAnnette. 2003. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
39.
LarsonReedRichardsMaryse H.1994. Divergent Realities: The Emotional Lives of Mothers, Fathers, and Adolescents. New York: Basic Books.
40.
LeeYun-SukWaiteLinda J.2005. “Husbands’ and Wives’ Time Spent on Housework: A Comparison of Measures.” Journal of Marriage and Family67:328–36.
41.
MariniMargaret M.SheltonBeth A.1993. “Measuring Household Work: Recent Experience in the United States.” Social Science Research22:361–82.
42.
MattinglyMarybeth J.BianchiSuzanne M.2003. “Gender Differences in the Quantity and Quality of Free Time: The U.S. Experience.” Social Forces81:999–1030.
43.
MattinglyMarybeth J.SayerLiana C.2006. “Under Pressure: Gender Differences in the Relationship between Free Time and Feeling Rushed.” Journal of Marriage and Family68:205–221.
44.
MaumeDavid J.PurcellDavid A.2007. “The ‘Over-Paced’ American: Recent Trends in the Intensification of Work.” Pp. 251–83 in Workplace Temporalities: Research in the Sociology of Work, Vol. 17, edited by RubinB. A.Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
45.
MilkieMelissa A.MattinglyMarybeth J.NomaguchiKey N.BianchiSuzanne M.RobinsonJohn P.2004. “The Time Squeeze: Parental Statuses and Feelings about Time with Their Children.” Journal of Marriage and Family66:739–61.
46.
MilkieMelissa A.PiaPeltola. 1999. “Gender and the Work-Family Balancing Act.” Journal of Marriage and the Family61:476–90.
47.
MoenPhyllisYuYan. 2000. “Effective Work-Life Strategies: Working Couples, Work Conditions, Gender, and Life Quality.” Social Problems47:291–326.
48.
MulliganCasey B.SchneiderBarbaraWolfeRustin. 2005. “Non-response and Population Representation in Studies of Time Use.” Electronic International Journal of Time Use Research2:33–53.
49.
NelsonMargaret. 2010. Parenting Out of Control: Anxious Parents in Uncertain Times. New York: New York University Press.
50.
NomaguchiKei M.2009. “Change in Work-Family Conflict among Employed Parents between 1977 and 1997.” Journal of Marriage and Family71:15–32.
51.
PresserHarriet B.1994. “Employment Schedules among Dual-Earner Spouses and the Division of Household Labor by Gender.” American Sociological Review59:348–64.
52.
PresserHarriet B.2003. Working in a 24/7 Economy: Challenges for American Families. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
53.
RadloffLenore S.1977. “The CES-D Scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population.” Applied Psychological Measurement1:385–401.
RaudenbushStephen W.BrykAnthony S.CheongYuk FaiCongdonRichard T.Jr.2004. HLM 6: Hierarchical Linear and Nonlinear Modeling. Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International, Inc.
56.
RogersRobert D.MonsellStephen. 1995. “Costs of a Predictable Switch between Simple Cognitive Tasks.” Journal of Experimental Psychology124:207–231.
57.
RoxburghSusan. 2002. “Racing Through Life: The Distribution of Time Pressures by Roles and Role Resources among Full-Time Workers.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues23:121–45.
58.
RoxburghSusan. 2004. “‘There Just Aren’t Enough Hours in the Day’: The Mental Health Consequences of Time Pressures.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior32:115–31.
59.
RoxburghSusan. 2006. “‘I Wish We had More Time to Spend Together. . .’: The Distribution and Predictors of Perceived Family Time Pressures among Married Men and Women in the Paid Labor Force.” Journal of Family Issues27:529–53.
60.
RubinsteinJoshua S.MeyerDavid E.JeffreyEvans E.2001. “Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance27:763–97.
61.
SayerLiana C.2007a. “More Work for Mothers? Trends and Gender Differences in Multitasking.” Pp. 41–55 in Competing Claims in Work and Family Life, edited by van der LippeT.PetersP.Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elger.
62.
SayerLiana C.2007b. “Gender Differences in the Relationship between Long Employee Hours and Multitasking.” Pp. 405–435 in Workplace Temporalities: Research in the Sociology of Work, Vol. 17, edited by RubinB. A.Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
63.
SayerLiana C.PaulaEnglandMichaelBittmanSuzanneBianchi. 2009. “How Long Is the Second (Plus First) Shift? Gender Differences in Paid, Unpaid, and Total Work Time in Australia and the United States.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies40:523–44.
64.
SchiemanScottMilkieMelissa A.GlavinPaul. 2009. “When Work Interferes with Life: Work–Nonwork Interference and the Influence of Work-Related Demands and Resources.” American Sociological Review74:966–88.
65.
SchneiderBarbara. 2006. “In the Moment: The Benefits of the Experience Sampling Method.” Pp. 469–88 in The Work and Family Handbook, edited by Pitt-CatsouphesM.Ernst KossekE.SweetS.Mahwah, NJ: LEA.
66.
SchneiderBarbara. 2009. “Method Differences in Measuring Working Families’ Time.” Social Indicators Research93:105–110.
67.
SchneiderBarbaraWaiteLinda. J.2005. Being Together, Working Apart: Dual-Career Families and Their Work-Life Balance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
68.
SpinkAmandaColeCharlesWallerMary. 2008. “Multitasking Behavior.” Annual Review of Information Science and Technology42:93–118.
69.
TwiggesJoan E.McQuillanJuliaFerreeMyra M.1999. “Meaning and Measurement: Reconceptualizing Measures of the Division of Household Labor.” Journal of Marriage and Family61:712–24.
70.
VoydanoffPatricia. 2004. “The Effects of Work Demands and Resources on Work-to-Family Conflict and Facilitation.” Journal of Marriage and Family66:398–412.
71.
WallisClaudia. 2006. “genM: The Multitasking Generation.” Time Magazine, March27.
72.
WhartonAmy S.Blair-LoyMary. 2006. “Long Work Hours and Family Life.” Journal of Family Issues27:415–36.
73.
WilliamsJoan. 2000. Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to Do About It. New York: Oxford University Press.
WinslowSarah. 2005. “Work-Family Conflict, Gender, and Parenthood, 1977–1997.” Journal of Family Issues26:727–55.
76.
ZickCathleen D.Keith BryantW.1996. “A New Look at Parents’ Time Spent in Child Care: Primary and Secondary Time Use.” Social Science Research25:260–80.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
