Are Parental Nonstandard Work Schedules a Barrier to Their School Involvement?

Abstract

Parental school involvement is consistently associated with better child development outcomes. Although parental work schedules are expected to shape school involvement, little empirical research examines this relationship. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort 2010 to 2011 (N = 6,047), we estimated associations between parents’ work schedules and multiple indicators of school involvement. Compared to daytime schedules, flexible variable schedules were associated with more parental school involvement. Working a regular nonstandard schedule or employer-set variable schedule was not associated with school involvement, except that working nights was associated with attending fewer school events. We found limited evidence of heterogeneity by family structure or parent gender. These findings suggest parental work schedule flexibility may benefit child outcomes through increased parental involvement.

Keywords

work schedules family engagement school involvement workplace flexibility

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