Overview

This two-volume handbook, written by leading international scholars, provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date reference work on the collection, analysis, and application of time use data. Time is a crucial yet finite social resource, fundamental to processes of growth, equality, and well-being. Much of the world’s essential production—raising children, preparing food, household maintenance—occurs within households, and relies on time, rather than monetary exchange, as its central input. Despite its centrality, this non-market dimension is often overlooked in official indicators. Time use diary data is increasingly recognised as the foremost source of reliable information on these key temporal dimensions of daily life. The second volume provides an authoritative outline of the contribution of time use research to key contemporary scholarly and policy applications in both the Global North and the Global South. The chapters consist of a wide-ranging selection of exemplary contributions chosen to illustrate the varied areas of substantive empirical research for which time use diary data has been used in research across the globe, including gender and life-course studies, research on employment and the labour force, care-giving, and contributions to the measurement of both population well-being and sustainable development goals. With a focus on the application and future directions of time use research, it will be a valuable point of reference for students and scholars from fields including sociology, demography, social policy, economics, gender studies, psychology, leisure and tourism studies, public health, and legal studies. The first volume of the handbook addresses methodological issues concerning the collection and analysis of data and is available at www.routledge.com/9781041123934.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael Bittman ,  Oriel Sullivan
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
ISBN:  

9781041123972

ISBN 10:   1041123973
Pages:   566
Publication Date:   14 May 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: The versatility of time use diary data Section 1: Scholarly and policy applications in the Global North 1. The Shape of Work 2. Time Devoted to Unpaid Work: Evolution Over the Life Course 3. Gender Convergence in Housework 4. Comparative Evidence on Policies Promoting Gender Equality in Domestic Labour 5. The Gender Trumps Money Controversy 6. Housework time and spousal resources: It is about gender! 7. Housework Now Takes Much Less Time: 85 Years of US Rural Women’s Time Use 8. The Future of Unpaid Work: Estimating the Effects of Automation on Time Spent on Housework and Care Work in Japan and the UK 9. Advancing Gender Equality in Parenting: The Remaining Challenge 10. The Effects of Having Children on Parents’ Daily Lives and over the Life Course: What Time Use Research Reveals 11. Conceptualizing Parenting Time: The Implications of Examining ‘Childcare’ Time versus other Time with Children 12. Daily Time Use of Dual-earner Couples with Young Children and Their Work-Life Balance in Korea from 2009 to 2019 13. Unpaid Caregiving to Adults: The Importance and Challenges of Using Time Use Data 14. Children's Time Use 15. Child and Adolescent Time Use and Well-Being Outcomes: Current Debates and Evidence 16. Children’s Time, Cramming Vs. Gaming 17. Trends in Growing Older: Women's and Men's Time Use in the United States, 1965-2018 18. Balance in Time Use and Life Satisfaction of Older People in Korea 19. Gendered Trends in Leisure Time from 2003 to 2021 20. Speed up Society? 21. Dutch Workers and Time Pressure: Household and Workplace Characteristics 22. Population Sleep: The Historical Evolution of Modern Concepts 23. Cross-National Historical Change in Sleep Durations and Timing 24. Daily Metabolic Expenditures: Estimates from US, UK and Polish Time-Use Data 25. Social Organisation and the Overweight/Obesity Epidemic in Developed Countries 26. Changes in Health-Related Daily Activities Across the UK Pandemic 27. Harnessing Technology to Promote Active Travel: A Multi-Method Approach to Understanding its Role in Daily Physical Activity 28. Time Use Data for Energy Demand Modelling 29. Synchronising Time for Social Connection and Civic Participation 30. The Public Face of Women’s Friendship: Work, Synchronous Time and Gender Equality Section 2: Scholarly and policy applications in the Global South 31. Time-Use Data: A Resource for Evidence-Based Policy Formulation and Sustainable Development Goals Monitoring 32. Towards a More Comprehensive Estimation of the Labour Force: Accounting for Subsistence Production, Informal Employment and Unpaid Family Labour 33. Employment, Unemployment and Education in Developing Countries: Insights from Time-Use Data 34. Gender, Household Division of Labour and Time Allocation of Women and Men 35. The Interference of Unpaid Domestic and Care Work with Paid Work and Men’s and Women’s Earnings 36. Women's Time Poverty in Turkey 37. Assessing the Impact of Public Investments

Reviews

'This remarkable two-volume handbook demonstrates the unique value of time-use data for addressing today’s most pressing social and policy challenges—from gender equality and care to health, energy, leisure, work and economic well-being. It combines methodological rigor with breadth of application. By bringing together leading voices from around the world, it solidifies the importance of time-use research for evidence-based policymaking. I hope it serves as a catalyst for new generations of research and action.' Ugo Lachapelle, President of International Association of Time Use Research (IATUR) and Full Professor, Department of Urban Studies and Tourism, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada.

Author Information

Michael Bittman is Emeritus Professor at the University of New England, Australia. He has chaired United Nations expert committees on time use research and served as President of the International Association for Time Use Research from 2005 to 2013. Oriel Sullivan is a Professor and Co-Director in the ESRC-funded Centre for Time Use Research (CTUR), home of the Multinational Time Use Study, at the Institute of Social Research, University College London. She was jointly responsible for the UK 2014–2015 Harmonised European Time Use Survey and the CTUR ELiDDI online diary design.

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