Children’s daily activities: age variations between 8 and 12 years old across 16 countries

ABSTRACT

This article uses information reported by over 54,000 children aged 8–12 years old about their daily activities in a diverse sample of 16 countries across four continents. It explores between-country similarities and differences in patterns of activities across this age range. The analysis focuses on four topics identified in previous research – involvement with housework, the emphasis on educational activities, the balance between active and sedentary leisure activities, and the balance between time spent with family and friends. The results suggest diverging age variations in children’s activities across countries between the ages of 8 and 12 including tentative evidence of differences between low-income and high-income countries. They also highlight the need to understand children’s daily activities within the specific context of individual countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Children’s activities
• children’s time use
• middle childhood
• comparative research

Acknowledgements

Information about funding of this work is not provided at this stage to avoid the possibility of the authors being identifiable during the peer review process. This information will be added to the final version, if it is accepted for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Gwyther Rees is Research Director for the Children's Worlds project – an international survey of children's lives and well-being.

Notes

1. Data accessed at https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups [28th September 2016].

Additional information

Funding

The data on which this article is based is from Wave 2 of the Children's Worlds study, funded by the Jacobs Foundation.