Time availability as a mediator between socioeconomic status and health

Abstract

This study shows that time availability is a significant mediator between SES and health. I draw on representative survey data from the Canadian Multinational Time Use Survey and supplement this data source with a second data set containing localized sociodemographic and time availability measures. In addition to testing existing time scarcity measures, I also propose a broader set of new, more inclusive measures. Analyses involve two stages. First, binary logistic regressions evaluate statistically significant relationships. The second stage uses mediation analyses to assess whether time availability is statistically significant in mediating the relationship between SES and self-reported health. I compute direct, indirect, and total effects, independently for each of the objective and subjective time availability measures, for both the nationally representative sample and for the localized sample. My results show that both time scarcity and time excess are important when examining the mechanisms linking SES and health. For example, 12 percent of the effect of household-level SES on health is via discretionary time availability. Further, over 10 percent of the effect of neighborhood-level SES on health is via subjective time scarcity. Objective time poverty mediates about 9 percent. 7.3 percent of the effect of SES on health is via objective time excess. Considering the differing temporal needs of marginalized populations, this work has important health policy implications for sociotemporal disparities in health.

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