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  • 2020
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Uncovering Inequalities in Time-Use and Well-Being during COVID-19: A Multi-Country Investigation

By: Laura M. Giurge, Ayse Yemiscigil, Joseph Sherlock and Ashley V. Whillans
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:36
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Abstract

The COVID-19 global pandemic continues to alter how people spend their time, with possible downstream consequences for subjective well-being. Using diverse samples from the United States, Canada, Denmark, Brazil, and Spain (n = 30,018) and following a preregistered analytic plan, we find notable gender differences in time-use, with women and especially mothers spending more time on necessities such as childcare and household chores than fathers during the pandemic. We also provide longitudinal evidence that young women engaged in less active leisure in the initial weeks of COVID-19 compared to young men, and that these differences in active leisure predicted lower subjective well-being one month later (n = 924). Together, these data represent one of the most rigorous empirical investigations examining how time-use relates to well-being during the forced lockdowns created by the COVID-19 pandemic. By focusing on time—a critical but largely overlooked resource—these results point toward underexamined inequalities that policymakers and organizational leaders should carefully consider when designing policies now and post-COVID-19.

Keywords

Time-use; Subjective Well-being; COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Work-Life Balance; Gender; Equality and Inequality

Citation

Giurge, Laura M., Ayse Yemiscigil, Joseph Sherlock, and Ashley V. Whillans. "Uncovering Inequalities in Time-Use and Well-Being during COVID-19: A Multi-Country Investigation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-037, September 2020.

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About The Author

Ashley V. Whillans

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • The Developmental Origins and Behavioral Consequences of Attributions for Inequality By: Antonya Marie Gonzalez, Lucia Macchia and Ashley V. Whillans
  • Policy Stringency and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Analysis of Data from 15 Countries By: Lara B. Aknin, Bernardo Andretti, Rafael Goldszmidt, John F. Helliwell, Anna Petherick, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Daisy Fancourt, Elkhonon Goldberg, Sarah P. Jones, Ozge Karadag, Elie Karam, Richard Layard, Shekhar Saxena, Emily Thornton, Ashley Whillans and Jamil Zaki
  • Innovation at Moog Inc. By: Brian J. Hall, Ashley V. Whillans, Davis Heniford, Dominika Randle and Caroline Witten
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