2025 Theses Doctoral
Time Poverty in the United States and South Korea
Time poverty—the experience of insufficient time for rest, leisure, and self-development—has emerged as a critical issue in modern societies, intersecting with and potentially exacerbating social inequalities. This dissertation explores various dimensions of time poverty in the United States and South Korea. Through three interconnected studies, I examine long-term trends in relative time poverty, the association between time poverty and life satisfaction, and cohort effects on subjective and relative time poverty.
The first paper examines time poverty trends among adults in the United States over the last 20 years. Using the 2003-2022 American Time Use Survey, I show long-term trends in time poverty rates for the US adult population, analyzing variations by key sociodemographic factors including gender, family structure, and race/ethnicity. Time poverty rates initially decreased from the early 2000s through the early 2010s, followed by an upward trend starting in 2013, with a brief dip during the 2020 COVID-19 peak and reaching a high point in 2022. Throughout the study period, time poverty was most prevalent among women, adults living with multiple young children, and individuals of Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, or Hispanic descent. Logistic regression analyses confirmed that being a woman, having children, and engaging in paid work were significantly associated with higher odds of experiencing time poverty.
The second paper investigates the association between time poverty and life satisfaction among working-age adults in South Korea. Using the 2019 Korean Time Use Survey, I conducted descriptive analyses and employed generalized ordered logistic regression to examine the relationship between time poverty and life satisfaction. Time poverty was measured in both subjective and relative terms. Results showed that subjective time poverty was more common than relative time poverty among working-age adults, with both types most pronounced between ages 35 and 44 and more prevalent among men than women. Regression models demonstrated a significant negative association between subjective time poverty and life satisfaction, with the largest effects observed among those reporting severe subjective time poverty. The association between relative time poverty and life satisfaction appeared mostly statistically insignificant.
The third paper studies how cohort membership influences subjective and relative time poverty among Korean adults across different age groups and periods. Utilizing four waves of the Korean Time Use Survey data from 2004 to 2019, I employed age-period-cohort detrended models to detect nonlinear fluctuations around linear trends for cohort-specific deviations. Results revealed a general decline in occasional subjective time poverty across cohorts but an increase in chronic subjective time poverty and relative time poverty among those in their 20s and 30s across successive cohorts. Significant variations in subjective and relative time poverty were found across different cohorts, with notable shifts occurring between the 1970s and 1980s cohorts. Subgroup analyses indicated varying effects based on gender, education level, and number of children in the household, with more prominent effects observed for cohorts born in the 1970s.
By investigating these aspects across different contexts, this dissertation highlights the complex nature and far-reaching consequences of time poverty on individual well-being and social dynamics. The findings underscore how time poverty reflects changing societal values and structures, particularly in relation to work-life balance, family dynamics, and cohort shifts in time use patterns. This research contributes to our understanding of evolving social inequalities and may inform policies aimed at promoting more equitable use of time across diverse populations, ultimately addressing the broader implications of time poverty in modern societies.
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So_columbia_0054D_18929.pdf application/pdf 1.5 MB Download File
More About This Work
- Academic Units
- Social Work
- Thesis Advisors
- Gao, Qin
- Degree
- Ph.D., Columbia University
- Published Here
- January 15, 2025