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Correlational findings

Study Barnett & Baruch (1987): study US 1980

Public
Parents with children 4-10, USA, 1980
Sample
Respondents
N = 320
Non Response
60 %
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face
Also mailed questionnaire, weekchart. Parents jointly used a chart to indicate 5 typical week days and for 2 typical weekend days the hours during which the target child and each parent were home and awake; they then indicated the nature of the child- parent interaction that typically occured during each of those hours.Each parent was interviewed in a separate room by a same sex interviewer

Correlate

Authors's Label
Mothers total interaction time with children
Our Classification
Remarks
Parents jointly used a chart to indicate 5 typical week days and for 2 typical weekend days the hours during which the target child and each parent were home and awake; they then indicated the nature of the child- parent interaction that typically occured during each of those hours
Distribution
Total interaction time: full-time housewives: M=49,03 SD=11,40 N=80; working mothers: M = 41,87 SD=9,45 N=80; All mothers: M = 44,45 hr per week SD =  11,04 N=160 (data all mothers from BARUC 1986)
Operationalization
Number of hours per week the mother spends in intermittent and intensive interaction with child, whether or not the father is present:
1= no interaction: parent and child are engaged in independent activity
2 = intermittent interaction: Parent and child each are doing their own things and interacting periodically
3 = intensive interaction: Parent and child are actively involved together.
Level 1 scores were omitted. Level 2 and 3 interaction scores were combined into a total interaction time score.

Observed Relation with Happiness

Happiness Measure Statistics Elaboration / Remarks O-SLW-u-sq-v-7-a r = -.04 ns Working mothers O-SLW-u-sq-v-7-a r = -.03 ns Full-time housewives O-SLW-u-sq-v-7-a r = -.17 ns Fathers with working wife O-SLW-u-sq-v-7-a r = +.12 ns Fathers with full-time housewives