Abstract
This paper explores young adolescents' experience of basic daily tasks: personal maintenance (e.g., grooming and eating) and household maintenance (e.g., chores and errands). Quantity of time, companionship, and subjective states in these activities were examined during one week in the lives of 401 5th–9th graders with the Experience Sampling Method (Csikszentmihalyi and Larson, 1987). Our findings show that these tasks are particularly subject to sex typing. Girls engaged in grooming more often than boys, and this time increased in the higher grades, while boys showed no age effects. Boys did more outside chores while girls did more indoor chores. Girls were also more likely to carry out household tasks with family while boys did more chores alone. An examination of subjective states during household maintenance revealed that older girls reported a greater sense of motivation and choice than younger girls, but boys' experience did not differ. Experience of maintenance as socialization for adult activities is discussed.
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This research was supported by NIMH grant number MH38324, “Stress in Daily Life During Early Adolescence,” awarded to Reed Larson.
Current research interests are the effects of maternal employment on children and adolescents, and the study of day care.
Current research interests are family relationships in early adolescence, interpersonal conflict and the study of daily psychological experience.
Current research interests are pubertal development, precursors of eating disorders, and the effects of maternal employment on young adolescents.
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Duckett, E., Raffaelli, M. & Richards, M.H. “Taking care”: Maintaining the self and the home in early adolescence. J Youth Adolescence 18, 549–565 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02139073
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02139073