Maternal employment and child weight-related health

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.

Keywords: Maternal and child health; Maternal employment; Nutrition; Obesity.

Figure 1.. Maternal Employment and the Child Health Production Function

Notes: In both panels, the top line represents the child production function for mothers with full-time earnings, the middle line is for mothers with part-time earnings and the bottom line is for mothers with no earnings. In Panel A, the dots represent three employment choices available to mothers that all achieve the same child health outcome. In Panel B, the dots represent maternal employment outcomes made with imperfect information or constrained choices that result in different child health outcomes.