Ottawa Wellbeing Report – Time Use This is part of a series of reports that provide a snapshot of community wellbeing for Ottawa. Following the Canadian Index of Wellbeing framework, each report presents data from the eight domains of wellbeing. These domains are: Community Vitality, Democratic Engagement, Education, Environment, Healthy Populations, Leisure and Culture, Living Standards, and Time Use. This report presents data for the Time Use domain. Due to gaps in available data at the local level, data are presented on selected indicators within the eight domains of wellbeing. Furthermore, some of the indicators found in Ottawa reports differ from those in the Canadian Index of Wellbeing. In this report, the data are presented for the Ottawa-Gatineau census metropolitan area (CMA), unless otherwise specified. Where possible, data for Ottawa are compared to those for Ontario and/or Canada.
Key Messages • •
The proportion of parents in Ottawa who report read daily to their children aged 0 to 5 is similar to the Ontario average. On average, the residents of Ottawa spend 27 minutes commuting to work, similar to the Canadian average.
The Canadian Index of Wellbeing uses a gendered, life stage approach in understanding time use and its association with wellbeing (Brooker & Hyman, 2010). Time use is viewed as an experience that takes on unique patterns and challenges with each life stage group and gender (Brooker & Hyman, 2010). The indicators found in this domain explore how individuals use and experience time, what are the factors that control time use, and how time use factors contribute to wellbeing (Brooker & Hyman, 2010). This report presents selected indicators from the Time Use domain of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing for Ottawa (refer to Table A1 of the Appendix for a list of indicators). What is the current data telling us? Proportion of parents who report reading daily to their children aged 0 to 5 years Time spent with parents (parental time) is an important determinant of child and adolescent wellbeing (Brooker & Hyman, 2010). Data from the National Longitudinal Survey on Children and Youth show that children aged 4 and 5 who are read to several times a day demonstrate better learning and communication skills compared to those whose parents read to them a few times a week or less often (Brooker & Hyman, 2010). Other studies have found positive associations between time spent reading among school-aged children and better vocabulary skills, higher cognitive scores, higher behaviour scores, and higher levels of academic achievement (Brooker & Hyman, 2010). A 2006/2007 study showed that the proportion of parents in the Ottawa-Gatineau CMA who read daily to their children 1