Market substitutes for housework: Variations in use
Joung, Soon Hee
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/22272
Description
Title
Market substitutes for housework: Variations in use
Author(s)
Joung, Soon Hee
Issue Date
1992
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Magrabi, Frances M.
Department of Study
Human and Community Development
Discipline
Human and Community Development
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Home Economics
Economics, Labor
Sociology, Individual and Family Studies
Language
eng
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of mother's marital and employment status on expenditures for time-saving durables and services. The theoretical framework of this study was derived from the household production model. Data were taken from the 1988-89 Consumer Expenditure Survey. The sample consisted of 2,126 families with 334 single-mother families and 1,792 married-mother families. Tobit regression analyses were used to test for variables related to expenditures for (a) time-saving durables, (b) food away from home, (c) clothing care, (d) child care, (e) domestic services, and (f) total services.
Hypothesis 1, that single-mother families spend more on time-saving durables and services than married-mother families, other variables being the same, was partially supported. The results of the likelihood-ratio test indicated that only the mother's marital status was significant in explaining differences in expenditures for domestic services. Further, when the coefficient for marital status was examined, there was a positive relationship between marital status and domestic service expenditures.
Hypothesis 2, that employed single-mother families spend more on time-saving durables and services than either non-employed single-mother families or non-employed married-mother families, if other factors were the same, was partially supported. The set of mother's marital status, mother's employment status, and interaction of marital status and employment status was significantly related to expenditures for total services, food away from home, child care, and domestic services.
Specifically, when the coefficient for employment status was examined for evidence of differences in expenditures and the direction of the differences between employed single-mother families and non-employed single-mother families, a positive relationship between employment status and expenditures for total services, food away from home, and child care and a negative relationship with expenditures for domestic services was found.
Similarly, when the coefficients for mother's marital status and interaction of marital status and employment status were examined for evidence of differences in expenditures and the direction of the differences between employed single-mother families and non-employed married-mother families, only the marital status was positively related to domestic service expenditures while only the interaction term was positively related to durable expenditures.
The percentage difference from non-employed married-mother families was higher for employed single-mother families than for other types of families, indicating the positive effect on expenditures on market substitutes of mother's marital and employment status.
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