Schools, childcare infrastructures, and mothers’ time use and psychological well-being: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark

Schools and childcare infrastructures are key in shaping parents’ daily routines and well-being. Focusing on COVID-19 school disruptions, we examine how women's time use and psychological well-being changed as schools and childcare facilities closed and later reopened during the first wave of the pandemic in Denmark (April 1–June 26, 2020). Using data from a longitudinal opt-in online survey with Danish residents, we find that the reopening of schools and childcare facilities was associated with declines in mothers’ childcare time and increases in their paid work time. Global measures of mothers’ psychological well-being, based on questions about life satisfaction and feelings during the last week, show only few trends over the period of reopening. The clearest one is a decline in worriedness that is, however, observed among women without co-resident children as well. Measures of the emotional experience of day-to-day activities from an activity sampling module reveal that mothers’ experiences of care work improved substantially as schools reopened. After full reopening, mothers reported much lower levels of negative emotions during care work, while no similar trend was found for other activities. These findings indicate that schools and childcare facilities play a crucial role for maternal well-being in pandemic and non-pandemic times.