Harris professor receives grant to study recession’s effects on parents’ use of time

Ariel Kalil, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Studies, has been awarded a research grant from the Russell Sage Foundation to study the impact of the recent recession on parents’ behavior.

Kalil’s project will study how the recession might have affected parents’ use of time, especially the time they spend with their children, and whether this differs for mothers and fathers. The research aims to understand whether these changes in family patterns could lead to long-term consequences for child development and family well-being.

The grant is part of the Russell Sage Foundation’s Social Effects of the Great Recession initiative, a new program area at the foundation, which awards grants to “research projects that go beyond the simple description of trends to examine unanticipated implications of the Great Recession.” Kalil’s is one of 10 awards made by the foundation in first-round funding for this initiative.

The Russell Sage Foundation was established in 1907 with a mission to improve the social and living conditions in the United States. One of the oldest American foundations, it strengthens the methods, data, and theoretical core of the social sciences to help diagnose social problems and improve social policies.

Kalil is director of the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy at Chicago Harris. She also is affiliated with the University of Chicago’s Population Research Center.