Trajectories of US parents’ divisions of domestic labor throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

BACKGROUND Research on parents’ divisions of domestic labor during the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on average changes in housework and child care during the pandemic’s first year, limiting our understanding of variation in parents’ experiences as well as the long-term consequences of the pandemic for gender inequality. OBJECTIVE This study identifies distinct patterns of change in US parents’ divisions of housework and child care from spring 2020 to fall 2023 and factors associated with changes in parents’ divisions of domestic labor. METHODS We use five waves of survey data (2020–2023) from partnered US parents along with group-based trajectory and fixed effects models to identify longitudinal trajectories of parents’ divisions of housework and child care, and key factors associated with these trajectories.