Students' 'Diaries' Chart After-School Activities

By Linda Jacobson

An estimated 3.5 million children between the ages of 5 and 12 are spending an average of an hour a day home alone after school, a new study shows. But that really isn't that much, considering the "hectic, highly scheduled quality of contemporary family life," according to the researcher who conducted it.

By examining "time diaries" kept in 1997 by a nationally representative sample of 1,500 children, University of Michigan researcher Susan L. Hofferth found that a vast majority of the children—73 percent—go straight home after school.

Another 11 percent go to child care, either to a provider's home or a center. Eight percent stay at school, most likely involved in adult-supervised activities. And the remaining 8 percent go to a variety of other places, such as the mall, a park, or a...