Young People and their Contribution to Household Work

Abstract

This article considers the theoretical and empirical neglect of children's contribution to household work. It draws upon a two-stage study of the transfer of responsibility from parents to their sixteen year-olds: a questionnaire survey of 843 young people and an interview study of parents and young people in 64 households. It considers the frequency and nature of young people's contribution to housework and changes taking place between the questionnaire and the interview studies, and makes the distinction between family-care and self-care. Drawing on the interview accounts, it examines parents' general expectations of young people in respect of housework and, more specifically, the ways these negotiations work out in practice with respect to a number of criteria - gender, cultural values, age and birth order, mothers' employment and young people's employment and education. These factors were also found to structure the survey data.