Maternal Employment and Child Weight-related Health

Overview

Journal Soc Sci Med

Date 2022 Sep 6

PMID 36067580

Authors

Angela R Fertig

Junia N de Brito

Amanda C Trofholz

Jerica M Berge

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Several studies have documented a link between maternal employment and childhood obesity, but the mechanisms are not clear. This study investigated the association of maternal employment with children's weight status and detailed weight-related behaviors using data from Phase I of Family Matters, a cross-sectional, observational study of 150 children aged 5-8 from six racial/ethnic groups (White, Black, Latinx, Native American, Hmong, and Somali) and their families from the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN metropolitan area recruited in 2015-2016. Weight status (objectively measured), child dietary intake (three 24-h dietary recalls), physical activity (eight days of hip-mounted accelerometer data on children), and sleep (eight daily parent reports on children's sleep hours) were examined across four categories of maternal employment status: stay-at-home caregivers, working part-time, working full-time, and unemployed/unable to work. This study found that children's weight status and physical activity levels were similar across all categories of maternal employment. However, there were significant differences in aspects of children's diets by maternal employment status and, compared to children with stay-at-home mothers, children's sleep was significantly lower if their mother worked full-time. These findings highlight that dietary and sleep interventions tailored to the mother's employment status may be fruitful.

Citing Articles

Qualitative study of the association between psychosocial health and physical activity/sleep quality in toddlers.

Tsuyuki C, Suzuki K, Seo K, Ke D, Tsuge K, Deng P Sci Rep. 2023; 13(1):15704.

PMID: 37735193 PMC: 10514029. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-42172-4.

Associations Between Parental Employment and Children's Screen Time: A Longitudinal Study of China Health and Nutrition Survey.

Xie Q, Luo X, Chen R, Zhou X Int J Public Health. 2023; 67:1605372.

PMID: 36703860 PMC: 9870874. DOI: 10.3389/ijph.2022.1605372.

References

Case A, Lubotsky D, Paxson C . Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient. Am Econ Rev. 2017; 92(5):1308-34. DOI: 10.1257/000282802762024520. View

Berge J, Trofholz A, Tate A, Beebe M, Fertig A, Miner M . Examining unanswered questions about the home environment and childhood obesity disparities using an incremental, mixed-methods, longitudinal study design: The Family Matters study. Contemp Clin Trials. 2017; 62:61-76. PMC: 5641262. DOI: 10.1016/j.cct.2017.08.002. View

Guenther P, Casavale K, Reedy J, Kirkpatrick S, Hiza H, Kuczynski K . Update of the Healthy Eating Index: HEI-2010. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2013; 113(4):569-80. PMC: 3810369. DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2012.12.016. View

Li J, Akaliyski P, Schafer J, Kendall G, Oddy W, Stanley F . Non-linear relationship between maternal work hours and child body weight: Evidence from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. Soc Sci Med. 2017; 186:52-60. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.05.046. View

Spruyt K, Molfese D, Gozal D . Sleep duration, sleep regularity, body weight, and metabolic homeostasis in school-aged children. Pediatrics. 2011; 127(2):e345-52. PMC: 3025425. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2010-0497. View

Bauer K, Hearst M, Escoto K, Berge J, Neumark-Sztainer D . Parental employment and work-family stress: associations with family food environments. Soc Sci Med. 2012; 75(3):496-504. PMC: 3586574. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.026. View

Lin Y, Tremblay M, Katzmarzyk P, Fogelholm M, Hu G, Lambert E . Temporal and bi-directional associations between sleep duration and physical activity/sedentary time in children: An international comparison. Prev Med. 2017; 111:436-441. PMC: 9048858. DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.12.006. View

Owens J . Insufficient sleep in adolescents and young adults: an update on causes and consequences. Pediatrics. 2014; 134(3):e921-32. PMC: 8194472. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2014-1696. View

Fitzsimons E, Pongiglione B . The impact of maternal employment on children's weight: Evidence from the UK. SSM Popul Health. 2018; 7:100333. PMC: 6297074. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.100333. View

10.

Thompson F, Dixit-Joshi S, Potischman N, Dodd K, Kirkpatrick S, Kushi L . Comparison of Interviewer-Administered and Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Recalls in 3 Diverse Integrated Health Systems. Am J Epidemiol. 2015; 181(12):970-8. PMC: 4462333. DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwu467. View

11.

Mech P, Hooley M, Skouteris H, Williams J . Parent-related mechanisms underlying the social gradient of childhood overweight and obesity: a systematic review. Child Care Health Dev. 2016; 42(5):603-24. DOI: 10.1111/cch.12356. View

12.

Pinto Pereira S, Ki M, Power C . Sedentary behaviour and biomarkers for cardiovascular disease and diabetes in mid-life: the role of television-viewing and sitting at work. PLoS One. 2012; 7(2):e31132. PMC: 3276501. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031132. View

13.

Anderson P, Butcher K, Levine P . Maternal employment and overweight children. J Health Econ. 2003; 22(3):477-504. DOI: 10.1016/S0167-6296(03)00022-5. View

14.

Brown J, Broom D, Nicholson J, Bittman M . Do working mothers raise couch potato kids? Maternal employment and children's lifestyle behaviours and weight in early childhood. Soc Sci Med. 2010; 70(11):1816-24. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.01.040. View

15.

Anderson P . Parental employment, family routines and childhood obesity. Econ Hum Biol. 2012; 10(4):340-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2012.04.006. View

16.

Speirs K, Liechty J, Wu C . Sleep, but not other daily routines, mediates the association between maternal employment and BMI for preschool children. Sleep Med. 2014; 15(12):1590-3. DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2014.08.006. View

17.

Swyden K, Sisson S, Morris A, Lora K, Weedn A, Copeland K . Association Between Maternal Stress, Work Status, Concern About Child Weight, and Restrictive Feeding Practices in Preschool Children. Matern Child Health J. 2017; 21(6):1349-1357. DOI: 10.1007/s10995-016-2239-y. View

18.

Paruthi S, Brooks L, DAmbrosio C, Hall W, Kotagal S, Lloyd R . Recommended Amount of Sleep for Pediatric Populations: A Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. J Clin Sleep Med. 2016; 12(6):785-6. PMC: 4877308. DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.5866. View

19.

Ruhm C . Maternal Employment and Adolescent Development. Labour Econ. 2009; 15(5):958-983. PMC: 2760927. DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2007.07.008. View

20.

Anderson P, Butcher K, Schanzenbach D . Understanding recent trends in childhood obesity in the United States. Econ Hum Biol. 2019; 34:16-25. DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2019.02.002. View