Americans' Use of Time Series

The Americans' Use of Time series data were gathered as part of a multinational time budget project and consist of several datasets: Americans' Use of TIme, 1965-1966, Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts, 1975-1976, Americans' Use of Time, 1965-1966, and Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts, 1975-1976: Merged Data, Americans' Use of Time, 1985, Time Use Longitudinal Panel Study, 1975-1981, and Family Interaction, Social Capital, and Trends in Time Use (FISCT), 1998-1999: [United States]. They contain single-day time personal diary, mail-back, and telephone interview data. The diaries consist of primary and secondary single-day activities. The files contain data on the estimates of daily time use by Americans, comprising work and nonwork leisure activities, as well as sociodemographic data. The FISCT 1998-1999 study contains data from 24-hour time diaries probing several indicators of social capital and life quality, gathered to update prior time series on how Americans spend time. The studies partly represent an attempt to apply recent methodological developments in the measurement of time use to a national probability sample of United States households in order to facilitate development of a fully articulated system of economic and social accounts. The time budget project focus included the following substantive and methodological areas: (1) time spent in social interaction, particularly parental time with children, (2) measurement problems in time estimates, (3) activity and social interaction patterns of elderly Americans, and (4) time spent on the Internet and effects on social isolation and other media usage.