Papers by Kitti Kutrovatz
While there is an upward trend in the time parents and children spend together, there is also int... more While there is an upward trend in the time parents and children spend together, there is also intensifying parental anxiety about whether they are spending enough and sufficient quality time with children. The significant impact of parental time on children's cognitive and social outcomes and wellbeing is well documented in the literature. This importance is also reflected in the often-used notion of quality time in academic and public debate, which emphasizes the nature of parental time. Moreover, there is growing evidence that a 'squeezed' feeling of time characterizes the lives of contemporary families. The difficulties of reconciling work and family life mostly concern parents. This paper reviews the literature about parental time based on the problem of time pressure, and related to this, the paradoxical anxiety of today's parents about the time they devote to their children. The article aims to describe parenting trends and focuses on parental time by exploring its features and influential factors. First, we review the characteristics of changing expectations about parenthood and discuss emerging concepts concerning the time parents and children spend together related to the ideals of contemporary parenting. Second, based on earlier empirical findings, the most important factors are outlined and elaborated. Reflecting on the Hungarian context, related findings are also presented.
Book Review Barbara Hobson (ed.) (2013) WorkLife Balance: The Agency and Capabilities Gap. Oxford... more Book Review Barbara Hobson (ed.) (2013) WorkLife Balance: The Agency and Capabilities Gap. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 297 pages. The issue of work-life balance (WLB) has become a highly relevant field of discussion in academic and public debate as the pressure people feel as work intensifies in Western societies is increasing along with the perception of time famine (Van Echtelt et al., 2009; Robinson and Godbey, 1997). The interrelationship between work and life has been a focus of social research for decades. The volume under review provides an exceptionally comprehensive examination of WLB in the field of comparative welfare state research, mainly in the European context, although it provides an example from Asia as well. Amartya Sen's capability approach (1992) serves as the conceptual framework for the analyses. The approach was developed by the author in the 1980s who introduced this concept of 'capabilities' as a measure of well-being, and held the view that equality of capabilities should be promoted in society (Sen, 1985; 1992). In accord with this approach, choice and agency are at the core of the model presented in the book. Consequently, individual preferences based on the capability of people to choose another way of life and an exploration of these capabilities and potential choices are the focus of the work. Accordingly, the complex, multidimensional nature of achieving balance between work and private life is underlined. The aim of the book is twofold. On the one hand, it is designed to incorporate the agency and capabilities approach and based on this established model explore the gap between aspirations and practices in WLB. On the other hand, it is also intended to broaden the capabilities framework through its research into WLB. The book employs an institutional approach to defining a multidimensional model which outlines the conversion of resources into agency and incorporates the determining factors, the capabilities, and finally, the opportunity to achieve WLB (which is called agency freedom) into this model. The three levels which are investigated constitute the conversion factors which may be defined and modified based on Sen's categories. Individual, institutional and societal factors are distinguished; however, these levels are intertwined. Accordingly, these conversion factors define a set of individual capabilities which impact agency freedom and thus the real opportunity of people to achieve balance between work and life. The concept of situated agency is employed in the book to accentuate the overlaps which exist between different social categories: this notion is employed to highlight the interaction between these dimensions-such as gender (the key dimension), education and skills, etc.-which shape capabilities. Therefore, as the individual factors together comprise the concept of situated agency, the role of gender is underlined.
Children & Society, Jun 6, 2022
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
and support anytime. Without their constructive critiques, valuable recommendations, and encourag... more and support anytime. Without their constructive critiques, valuable recommendations, and encouragement, this dissertation would not have been completed in its current form. This project has been funded through the National Research, Development, and Innovation Fund project ('Race against time' NKFIH K120086). I am also grateful to Beáta Nagy, the head of this NKFIH project making this research possible. Doing a PhD in a broader research project framework enabled me to focus on my dissertation in the last years and provided me with much financial support to attend several conferences in Hungary and abroad. I am indebted to all the participants in this research group, especially undergraduate students, for the help they provided me with the pilot phases of the data collection and with their preliminary analyses of the data. In particular, I am grateful to Tekla Balogh and Bálint Wittingeralso the co-authors of the paper published in Társadalomtudományi Szemle-, Viktória Terecskei, Alexandra Vajda and Fruzsina Mikó. I would like to thank Nikolett Geszler and Márton Rakovics for their inspiring collaboration in preparing papers. I express my gratitude to the reviewers of the draft version of the dissertation, Geambașu Réka and Bence Ságvári, for their precious advice, comments, and questions which significantly contributed to the improvement of this work. I am also thankful to the professors at the Doctoral School of Sociology and Communication Science at the Corvinus University of Budapest for their useful remarks on my research proposal. I particularly appreciated a lot of support to the methodology of my thesis from Tamás Bartus and Lilla Vicsek. I would like to thank all my colleagues for their collegiality in the Social Epidemiology Research Group at MTA TKI, which enabled me to dedicate much time to my PhD research. In addition, I am extremely grateful to Ágoston Horváth for providing me with great support in the methodology and data analyses. I am indebted to all the families who participated in our research project, parents and adolescents who devoted time providing me valuable information about their family dynamics. Indeed, I could not have done this investigation without them. I would like to thank my family for the love, support, and constant encouragement I have received over these long years. In particular, I am thankful to my mother, who would babysit my children anytime. I am grateful to my daughters, Berta and Vilma, for their unconditional love and tolerance during the long PhD process. Last but not least, I cannot be grateful enough for my husband, Dávid, who has patiently supported me in each stage of my PhD in every possible way. Without his intensive parenting, I could not complete this thesis. Additionally, intensive technology usage is particularly typical of teenagers (Aarsand 2007), and there is growing evidence that entertainment technologiessuch as videogames and content consumption on various screensplay a pervasive role in the lives of teenagers (Gardner-Davis 2013; Pew Research Centre 2018). Consequently, this dissertation focuses on young adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years old. It is important to note that in the following sections the terms children, adolescents, and teenagers will be used simultaneously, but all refer to this period of life.
Corvinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Jul 15, 2017
This paper explores the methodological and ethical challenges of conducting qualitative research-... more This paper explores the methodological and ethical challenges of conducting qualitative research-especially individual interviews-with children in relation to an investigation of individual perspectives about the time that parents and their teenage children spend together. From an overview of the topic, three key issues are identified: power inequalities, competence, and parental gatekeeping. First, the paper discusses general challenges and suggests possible responses as far as conducting qualitative interviews with children are concerned, with a focus on the phases of research design and data collection. Second, it reflects on specific questions that are raised in connection with an investigation of the sensitive issues of parental time and technology use. The paper concludes that using a combination of traditional and innovative techniques, and paying attention to taking a reflexive approach throughout the research process, are essential elements of research with children.
Intersections, Nov 2, 2022
This study explores parental mediation-its patterns, purpose and intention, the intentions behind... more This study explores parental mediation-its patterns, purpose and intention, the intentions behind it, and related social inequalities-from the perspective of the ideal of intensive parenting. Parental mediation in the form of restricting or monitoring teenagers' technology use might mitigate the harm of the intensive or risky online behaviour. Moreover, active mediation strategies might improve the teenagers' digital literacy by obtaining specific skills that foster appropriate online behaviour. Therefore, the paper argues that parental mediation has become a highly relevant aspect of contemporary parenting practices. The paper is based on thematic analyses of semi-structured interviews on children's screen time and parental mediation strategies. The interviews were carried out with 29 parents of adolescents in Hungary in 2019. The findings show that restriction and active mediation primarily aimed at protecting children from risks, as a resourceintensive practice, form part of the contemporary parenting skill set. This study contributes to understanding how these skills constitute a digital cultural capital, and thereby how parenting can enhance the digital inequality.
Socio.hu, 2018
This paper provides a systematic review of the international literature concerning the issue of p... more This paper provides a systematic review of the international literature concerning the issue of parental mediation related to children's technology usage. The review covers papers published between 2007 and 2017. Our paper pays special attention to the diversity of the conceptual frameworks utilised in the empirical literature to describe the various forms of parental mediation strategies. Therefore, it also intends to create a typology clarifying the complex relationships of these various concepts. As a result, based on earlier empirical findings, four main parental mediation strategies are identified: 1. restriction, 2. active parental mediation and co-use, 3. monitoring, and 4. deference. Furthermore, the paper outlines the most important thematic areas related to parental mediation. Three specific issues seem to emerge from the literature: 1. risky online behaviour, 2. privacy (especially in connection with sharing private information), and 3. problematic technology usage. So far, most of the research projects of parental mediation remained at a general level, and in relation to these, the empirical results are quite ambiguous and inconclusive. Besides, the inconsistent use of terms makes comparison of the data difficult. The role of other factors linked to parental mediation is also not unequivocal in the literature. One exception to this 'rule' is related to the age of children, namely, it is a general pattern that parents mediate older children less frequently. Furthermore, gender and the level of digital literacy also seem to be significant factors determining modes of parental mediation. Lastly, it can be argued that the sociological perspective is lacking from most of the papers. This would have allowed focusing on the role of socioeconomic status of technology use more closely, thereby exploring the phenomenon of parental mediation in a more nuanced way.
Abstract This paper provides a systematic review of the international literature concerning the i... more Abstract This paper provides a systematic review of the international literature concerning the issue of parental mediation related to children’s technology usage. The review covers papers published between 2007 and 2017. Our paper pays special attention to the diversity of the conceptual frameworks utilised in the empirical literature to describe the various forms of parental mediation strategies. Therefore, it also intends to create a typology clarifying the complex relationships of these various concepts. As a result, based on earlier empirical findings, four main parental mediation strategies are identified: 1. restriction, 2. active parental mediation and co-use, 3. monitoring, and 4. deference. Furthermore, the paper outlines the most important thematic areas related to parental mediation. Three specific issues seem to emerge from the literature: 1. risky online behaviour, 2. privacy (especially in connection with sharing private information), and 3. problematic technology usage. So far, most of the research projects of parental mediation remained at a general level, and in relation to these, the empirical results are quite ambiguous and inconclusive. Besides, the inconsistent use of terms makes comparison of the data difficult. The role of other factors linked to parental mediation is also not unequivocal in the literature. One exception to this ‘rule’ is related to the age of children, namely, it is a general pattern that parents mediate older children less frequently. Furthermore, gender and the level of digital literacy also seem to be significant factors determining modes of parental mediation. Lastly, it can be argued that the sociological perspective is lacking from most of the papers. This would have allowed focusing on the role of socioeconomic status of technology use more closely, thereby exploring the phenomenon of parental mediation in a more nuanced way. Keywords: parental mediation, children’s technology use, risky online behaviour, privacy
Intersections
This study explores parental mediation – its patterns, purpose and intention, the intentions behi... more This study explores parental mediation – its patterns, purpose and intention, the intentions behind it, and related social inequalities – from the perspective of the ideal of intensive parenting. Parental mediation in the form of restricting or monitoring teenagers’ technology use might mitigate the harm of the intensive or risky online behaviour. Moreover, active mediation strategies might improve the teenagers’ digital literacy by obtaining specific skills that foster appropriate online behaviour. Therefore, the paper argues that parental mediation has become a highly relevant aspect of contemporary parenting practices. The paper is based on thematic analyses of semi-structured interviews on children’s screen time and parental mediation strategies. The interviews were carried out with 29 parents of adolescents in Hungary in 2019. The findings show that restriction and active mediation primarily aimed at protecting children from risks, as a resource-intensive practice, form part of...
While there is an upward trend in the time parents and children spend together, there is also int... more While there is an upward trend in the time parents and children spend together, there is also intensifying parental anxiety about whether they are spending enough and sufficient quality time with children. The significant impact of parental time on children’s cognitive and social outcomes and wellbeing is well documented in the literature. This importance is also reflected in the often-used notion of quality time in academic and public debate, which emphasizes the nature of parental time. Moreover, there is growing evidence that a ‘squeezed’ feeling of time characterizes the lives of contemporary families. The difficulties of reconciling work and family life mostly concern parents. This paper reviews the literature about parental time based on the problem of time pressure, and related to this, the paradoxical anxiety of today’s parents about the time they devote to their children. The article aims to describe parenting trends and focuses on parental time by exploring its features an...
Corvinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 2017
This paper explores the methodological and ethical challenges of conducting qualitative research-... more This paper explores the methodological and ethical challenges of conducting qualitative research-especially individual interviews-with children in relation to an investigation of individual perspectives about the time that parents and their teenage children spend together. From an overview of the topic, three key issues are identified: power inequalities, competence, and parental gatekeeping. First, the paper discusses general challenges and suggests possible responses as far as conducting qualitative interviews with children are concerned, with a focus on the phases of research design and data collection. Second, it reflects on specific questions that are raised in connection with an investigation of the sensitive issues of parental time and technology use. The paper concludes that using a combination of traditional and innovative techniques, and paying attention to taking a reflexive approach throughout the research process, are essential elements of research with children.
Corvinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 2021
The academic profession has significantly transformed in the past few decades due to the industri... more The academic profession has significantly transformed in the past few decades due to the industrialization of higher education and research. Based on sixteen career path interviews, the study investigates how the career paths of sociology doctoral graduates who obtained their master’s or PhD degree at Corvinus University of Budapest have been formed within this changing environment of the academic profession. The study distinguishes four researcher career path types and describes attached job characteristics and career satisfaction. Hungarian and international academic researchers have spent most of their careers at Hungarian or renowned foreign universities. Hungarian academic researchers performed a high volume of teaching, while international academic researchers primarily focused on research. The career paths of market researchers were formed by their positions at research firms, where they were involved in applied research projects. Researchers of the mixed career type alternat...
Corvinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 2015
Journal of Family Issues, Jul 13, 2022
A squeezed feeling of time might influence the quality of parental time and thus parental engagem... more A squeezed feeling of time might influence the quality of parental time and thus parental engagement. Using recent Hungarian quantitative data on representative parent–child dyads ( n = 1000) based on subjective estimations and evaluations of parental time, this study aims to grasp the often used notion of quality time. We concentrate on the aspect of focus in parental attention and compare parents’ and adolescents’ perspectives to reveal the impact of the former on teenagers’ subjective wellbeing. Results indicate that quality time matters; in addition, teenagers’ perceptions about focused parental time is a more significant factor in relation to wellbeing than parents’ perceptions, and the latter has a greater impact on life satisfaction than enrichment activities. However, when there is a lack of shared time, enrichment activities might compensate for this shortage. Finally, we propose that class inequalities are further enhanced and reproduced by unequal access to quality time and intensive parenting practices.
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Papers by Kitti Kutrovatz