• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.53-65
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• 2023

This study focused on Japanese families engaging in childrearing to discover changes in their daily lives, such as in the role division between husband and wife and hours spent on housework and childcare, caused by the unexpected crisis of COVID-19. An empirical analysis attempted to determine whether changes in the working environment, such as working and commuting hours, affected the role division between husband and wife, as well as housework and childcare hours spent. The data analyzed were extracted from the 2021 "3rd Survey on Changes in Lifestyle Awareness and Behavior Due to the Impact of COVID-19" conducted by the Japanese Cabinet Office. A total of 983 couples aged 20 or older, living with their spouse, having at least one child under the age of 18, and both employed were selected. The analysis results were as follows: First, the division of roles between husband and wife changed in the direction of increasing the husband's role in housework and childrearing. Second, the decrease in working and commuting hours increased the husband's role. Third, housework and childcare hours were more clearly related to changes in the working environments of husbands and wives than to changes in role division between husband and wife. In conclusion, changes in men's working and commuting hours had a greater impact on role division, as well as housework and childrearing hours in the family, than changes in women's working and commuting hours. In the future, an analysis that considers labor market factors is necessary.