School of Social and Political Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemFrom online trolls to ‘Slut Shaming’: understanding the role of incivility and gender abuse in local government(Informa UK Limited, 2024-01-01)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableDo high childcare costs and low access to Head Start and childcare subsidies limit mothers' employment? A state-level analysis(ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE, 2022-02)Access to affordable childcare is crucial to mothers' employment. Yet, childcare costs and access to Head Start, childcare subsidies, and state-funded preschool vary dramatically across U.S. states. Using data from the 2016 American Community Survey five-year estimates, we apply hierarchical logistic regression models to show mothers are more likely to work in states with inexpensive childcare, higher Head Start enrollment and childcare subsidy participation, and increased availability of state-funded preschool. Childcare subsidy access is associated with higher maternal employment amongst those with lower levels of educational attainment, whereas state-funded preschool is associated with higher employment primarily among the college educated. Additionally, our analysis revealed that Head Start has a stronger association with maternal employment in states where childcare costs are high, reducing the negative relationship of employment with expensive childcare. As national discussions continue to center on the importance of childcare, our research adds evidence that public programs support maternal employment through reducing out-of-pocket childcare costs.
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ItemChildren of the Revolution: The continued unevenness of the gender revolution in housework, childcare and work time across birth cohorts(Elsevier, 2023-03)This study investigates whether parents spend different amounts of time in housework, childcare, and employment across birth cohorts. We apply data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS; 2003–2018) and age-cohort-period models to compare parents' time spent in these activities across three successive birth cohorts: Baby Boomers (1946–1965), Generation X (1966–1980) and Millennials (1981–2000). For housework time, we find no evidence of cohort change for mothers but for fathers, we observe an increase in housework time with each subsequent cohort. For time spent caring for children, we identify a period effect whereby mothers and fathers regardless of which cohort they belong to are spending more time in primary care of children over time. For work time, we find an increase in mothers' contributions across these birth cohorts. But, net of this overall trend, we find Generation X and Millennial mothers are spending less time in employment relative to Baby Boom mothers. Fathers’ employment time, by contrast, has not changed across cohorts or over our measured period. Ultimately, we find gender gaps in childcare, housework and employment across cohorts remain suggesting cohort replacement and period effects are inadequate to close gender gaps in housework, childcare and paid employment time.
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Item2023 State of the Future of Work(Work Futures Hallmark Research Initiative, The University of Melbourne, 2023-03-01)The 2023 State of the Future of Work Report is the first report from the Work Futures Hallmark Research Initiative (WFHRI), a team of interdisciplinary researchers from The University of Melbourne. Drawing on data on the work experiences of 1,400 Australian workers since the pandemic, we identify four critical future of work themes: 1. Unsafe: Australians feel their work and workplaces are unsafe, sites of discrimination for women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, caregivers and people living with chronic illnesses. 2. Unwell: Work, as it currently stands, is making many Australians unwell, with many working harder and reporting greater exhaustion than prepandemic, especially those in their prime working ages. 3. Uncertain: Australian workers have a limited understanding of how the upcoming technological changes driven by automation and artificial intelligence will impact their jobs, creating greater uncertainty. Work, as it currently stands, is rapidly changing, with many Australians unclear on how to keep up. 4. Opportunity: Despite these massive issues, Australian workers see greater opportunity to support workers to build happier, more satisfied work lives especially through the rise of flexible workplaces and flexible work practices.
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ItemAN ARGUMENT FOR UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL AND CHILDCARE IN THE U.S.(Wiley, 2022-06-01)
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ItemThe Nexus Between China's Global Image and Attitudes Toward Diasporic Chinese: A Comparison of Australia and the United States(ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2024-03-03)The COVID-19 pandemic intensified unfavorable international news coverage of the Chinese Government with consequences for the Chinese diaspora broadly. To understand these relationships, we conducted surveys in Australia and the United States from 8 to 21 June 2021. Using a survey experiment, we find a significant negative impact of the Chinese Government’s early handling of COVID-19 on public sentiment toward the Chinese Government in Australia but not in the United States. In both countries, expressing unfriendly feelings toward the Chinese Government tends to harm Chinese temporary residents more (compared to permanent residents). The associations between attitudes toward the Chinese Government and diasporic Chinese differ significantly across demographic groups but overall, holding cold attitudes toward the Chinese Government has stronger negative implications for diasporic Chinese in Australia.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableChildren's sleep and fathers' health and wellbeing: A systematic review(W B SAUNDERS CO LTD, 2022-02)Night-waking is typical across infancy and early childhood, inevitably disrupting family sleep. For some children, sleep problems develop and endure throughout childhood. This systematic review focused on fathers, and synthesised the evidence pertaining to the effects of children's sleep (from birth to 12 years) on fathers' health and wellbeing. A total of 29 studies were included. Key outcomes reported for fathers were: sleep and fatigue; mental and general health; and family functioning. An association between child sleep and father's sleep was observed when child's sleep was measured via actigraphy or paternal report, but not when measured via maternal report, suggesting that mothers may not always be aware of disruptions that awaken fathers. Findings showed poorer child sleep was associated with poorer general health and wellbeing among fathers, however, associations of poor child sleep with depression were fewer, and less frequent than those reported for mothers in the same households. Poor child sleep was negatively associated with the quality of family relationships, both within the couple and between parent and child. Future studies seeking to understand the interplay of child sleep and family wellbeing should apply objective measurement of sleep and integrate formal measures of family dynamics into the study design.
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ItemResearch Note: School Reopenings During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Implications for Gender and Racial Equity(DUKE UNIV PRESS, 2022-02)In the fall of 2020, school districts across the country reopened under a variety of instructional modes. Some districts returned to in-person instruction and some operated remotely. Others reopened under hybrid models, wherein students alternated times, days, or weeks of in-person instruction. To capture this variation, we developed the Elementary School Operating Status (ESOS) database. ESOS provides data on elementary school districts' primary operating status in the first grading period of the 2020-2021 school year, covering 24 million students in more than 9,000 school districts in all states. In this research note, we introduce these data and offer two analytical examples. We show that school districts with greater representation of Black and Hispanic students were less likely to offer in-person instruction than were districts with greater representation of White students. These racial disparities remained after accounting for geographic locale and COVID-19 prevalence. We also show that the number of in-person elementary school instruction days was associated with mothers' labor force participation relative to fathers and to women without children-that is, the fewer days of instruction, the less likely that mothers were employed. ESOS is a critical data source for evaluating the mid- and long-term implications for students who experienced reduced in-person learning and for mothers who exited employment in the absence of in-person instruction and care.
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ItemP024 Children’s sleep and fathers’ health and wellbeing: a systematic review(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2021-10-07)Abstract Introduction Night-waking is typical across infancy and early childhood. Although mothers are traditionally primary carers for children overnight, child sleep may impact others in the household, such as co-dwelling fathers. Despite expectations of more ‘hands on’ fathering, the relationship between children’s sleep and fathers’ health and wellbeing has not been previously synthesised. Methods This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement and registered with the Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO). Focusing on fathers, this review synthesised evidence pertaining to effects of children’s sleep (from birth to 12 years) on fathers’ health and wellbeing. Results From 4,421 records, 29 studies met inclusion criteria. Findings showed: (1) child sleep was associated with father’s sleep when child sleep was measured through father-report or objective measurement; (2) poorer child sleep was associated with poorer general health and wellbeing among fathers, however, associations of poor child sleep with depression were fewer; and (3) poor child sleep was negatively associated with quality of within-couple and parent-child relationships. Discussion Results suggested two principal issues: (1) Systematic variation in measures and findings underscores importance of objective measurement. Yoked actigraphy techniques are vital for understanding inter-relationships of family sleep and attendant outcomes. (2) Different patterns of child sleep and parent outcomes suggest direct and indirect pathways of effect. Understanding patterns of overnight caregiving, and factors underpinning parent decisions, are important for understanding mechanisms linking child sleep to fathers’ outcomes and for designing effective interventions to support parents.
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ItemGendered housework under China's privatization: the evolving role of parents(Taylor & Francis, 2021)In China’s multigenerational society, parents fulfill essential family functions including housework–a critical site of gender inequality with important consequences. Combining data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (n = 14,096 person-years, 1997–2015) with a province-level privatization index, we find that co-residing with parents was associated with less housework time, whereas co-residing with sick parents was associated with more housework time. These associations were stronger for women than men. Our results highlight the increasingly important role of parents to help their adult daughters or daughters-in-law cope with housework demands as China’s economy was privatized.