Children’s Time Use Changes During Periods of Financial Hardship

Economically disadvantaged children are more likely to experience poor cognitive, health, and behavioral outcomes than other children. The mechanisms for these associations are not fully understood, hindering policy initiatives aimed at closing the gaps. One hypothesis is that children experiencing financial hardship allocate their time differently. In this study, we use seven waves of time use diary data from a large sample of Australian children to ex-plore how children’s time use changes when their family experiences financial hardship or deprivation. Focusing on four key child health and development time inputs––screen time, physical activity, sleep, and reading––we find that financial hardship is associated with sig-nificantly more screen time, particularly passive screen time and screen time at excessive levels. Potential mechanisms for these associations are explored.