CHILDREN AND HOUSEWORK: SOME UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Research indicates that recent demographic changes such as increases in maternal employment and in the number of female-headed households have created a substantial demand for children's help in the maintenance of the household (Cogle, Tasker & Morton, 1982; Gager, Cooney & Call, 1999; McHale et al., 1990; Medrich et al., 1982; Peters & Haldeman, 1987; Timmer, Eccles & O'Brien, 1985). Children appear to be making up for the labor shortage created when mothers are employed outside the home. The amount of time children are actually spending on household chores is uncertain, since recent studies may even be underestimating the time children devote to housework. While there is general agreement that adolescents spend more time on housework than ever before, researchers continue to debate the consequences of imposing household chores on children. The sex-typing of children's household labor continues to be common among American households (Blair, 1992a). Empirical studies consistently find that parents assign more household tasks to their daughters than their sons. Moreover, the sexual inequality among boys and girls has not changed greatly (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001a). It has been argued that parents should assign household chores more equally to sons and daughters (Burns & Homel, 1989). Goldscheider and Waite (1991) suggest that if boys do not experience household tasks, they may be less ready for independent living and less willing to help their future wives balance work and family. Studies on the effect of housework on children's cognitive and emotional development show that spending significant amounts of time on housework may be severely detrimental to children's academic achievement (Smith, 1990, 1992). The evidence on the impact of domestic labor on developmental traits such as competence or responsibility remains unclear. Amato (1988) finds that helping with household tasks enhances competence, whereas Call, Mortimer and Shanahan (1995) show that participation in household labor reduces competence among adolescents. As these results indicate, current research has so far failed to provide a clear conclusion about how participation in family work affects children's psychological traits. As Goodnow (1988) points out, any simple conclusion concerning the relationship between housework and developmental outcomes may be problematic.