IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v37y2016i4d10.1007_s10834-016-9484-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Mothers’ Work Related to Childhood Weight Changes in the United States?

Author

Listed:
  • Haeil Jung

    (Korea University)

  • Chaeyoung Chang

    (City University of New York)

Abstract

Taking family structure, father’s work intensity, and children’s developmental stages into consideration, this study examined the effect of a mother’s previous and contemporaneous work (employment and weekly work hours) on their children’s weight and their likelihood of having weight problems such as obesity, overweight, and underweight. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (ECLS-K), this study adopted a fixed effect model and found that for 3rd to 5th graders, an increase in mothers’ previous work hours among two-parent families below the federal poverty level (FPL) increased the risk of the child being obese, while the current employment of single mothers below the FPL reduced the risk of the child being obese. Surprisingly, the employment of single mothers below the FPL increased the risk of the child being underweight, especially for 1st to 3rd graders.

Suggested Citation

  • Haeil Jung & Chaeyoung Chang, 2016. "Is Mothers’ Work Related to Childhood Weight Changes in the United States?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 581-593, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:37:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s10834-016-9484-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-016-9484-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10834-016-9484-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-016-9484-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruce D. Meyer & Dan T. Rosenbaum, 2001. "Welfare, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Labor Supply of Single Mothers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(3), pages 1063-1114.
    2. Daphne Pedersen & Gabe Kilzer, 2014. "Work-to-Family Conflict and the Maternal Gatekeeping of Dual-Earner Mothers with Young Children," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 251-262, June.
    3. Seong-Hoon Cho & Dayton Lambert & Hyun Kim & Seung Kim, 2009. "Overweight Korean Adolescents and Academic Achievement," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 126-136, June.
    4. Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholder, 2008. "Maternal employment and overweight children: does timing matter?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(8), pages 889-906, August.
    5. Cawley, John & Liu, Feng, 2012. "Maternal employment and childhood obesity: A search for mechanisms in time use data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 352-364.
    6. Ana Moro-Egido, 2012. "Changing Trends of Mothers’ Active and Passive Childcare Times," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 11-23, March.
    7. Lisa Benson & Manouchehr Mokhtari, 2011. "Parental Employment, Shared Parent–Child Activities and Childhood Obesity," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 233-244, June.
    8. Daniel Miller, 2011. "Maternal Work and Child Overweight and Obesity: The Importance of Timing," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 204-218, June.
    9. Bauer, Katherine W. & Hearst, Mary O. & Escoto, Kamisha & Berge, Jerica M. & Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne, 2012. "Parental employment and work-family stress: Associations with family food environments," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 496-504.
    10. Sheila Mammen & Frances Lawrence & Peter Marie & Ann Berry & Suzann Knight, 2011. "The Earned Income Tax Credit and Rural Families: Differences Between Non-participants and Participants," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 461-472, September.
    11. Scott Hall & Shelley MacDermid, 2009. "A Typology of Dual Earner Marriages Based on Work and Family Arrangements," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 215-225, September.
    12. Wen You & George Davis, 2011. "Childhood Overweight: Does Quality of Parental Childcare Time Matter?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 219-232, June.
    13. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Cawley, John, 2008. "Beyond BMI: The value of more accurate measures of fatness and obesity in social science research," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 519-529, March.
    14. Anderson, Patricia M. & Butcher, Kristin F. & Levine, Phillip B., 2003. "Maternal employment and overweight children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 477-504, May.
    15. Yee Fei Chia, 2008. "Maternal labour supply and childhood obesity in Canada: evidence from the NLSCY," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 41(1), pages 217-242, February.
    16. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2008. "Maternal employment and adolescent development," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 958-983, October.
    17. Angela Fertig & Gerhard Glomm & Rusty Tchernis, 2009. "The connection between maternal employment and childhood obesity: inspecting the mechanisms," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 227-255, September.
    18. Gennetian, Lisa A. & Hill, Heather D. & London, Andrew S. & Lopoo, Leonard M., 2010. "Maternal employment and the health of low-income young children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 353-363, May.
    19. Kristen Capogrossi & Wen You, 2013. "Academic Performance and Childhood Misnourishment: A Quantile Approach," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 141-156, June.
    20. Morrissey, Taryn W., 2013. "Trajectories of growth in body mass index across childhood: Associations with maternal and paternal employment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 60-68.
    21. Yee Fei Chia, 2008. "Maternal labour supply and childhood obesity in Canada: evidence from the NLSCY," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 217-242, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christopher R. Tamborini, 2021. "Family and Health over the Past Decade: Review of Selected Studies and Areas of Future Inquiry," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 62-69, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gwozdz, Wencke & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & Reisch, Lucia A. & Ahrens, Wolfgang & Eiben, Gabriele & M. Fernandéz-Alvira, Juan & Hadjigeorgiou, Charalampos & De Henauw, Stefaan & Kovács, Eva & Lauria, Fabio, 2013. "Maternal employment and childhood obesity – A European perspective," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 728-742.
    2. Milovanska-Farrington, Stefani, 2020. "Parents labor supply and childhood obesity: Evidence from Scotland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    3. Peng Nie & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2014. "Maternal employment and childhood obesity in China: evidence from the China Health and Nutrition Survey," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(20), pages 2418-2428, July.
    4. Morrissey, Taryn W., 2013. "Trajectories of growth in body mass index across childhood: Associations with maternal and paternal employment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 60-68.
    5. Ziol-Guest, Kathleen M. & Dunifon, Rachel E. & Kalil, Ariel, 2013. "Parental employment and children's body weight: Mothers, others, and mechanisms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 52-59.
    6. Meyer, Sophie-Charlotte, 2016. "Maternal employment and childhood overweight in Germany," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 84-102.
    7. Greve, Jane, 2011. "New results on the effect of maternal work hours on children's overweight status: Does the quality of child care matter?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 579-590, October.
    8. Jens Bonke & Jane Greve, 2012. "Children’s health-related life-styles: how parental child care affects them," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 557-572, December.
    9. Daniel Miller, 2011. "Maternal Work and Child Overweight and Obesity: The Importance of Timing," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 204-218, June.
    10. Kazakova, Yuliya, 2022. "Maternal employment and childhood obesity in Russia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    11. Sophie-Charlotte Meyer, 2015. "Maternal Employment and Childhood Overweight in Germany," Schumpeter Discussion Papers SDP15005, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    12. Datar, Ashlesha & Nicosia, Nancy & Shier, Victoria, 2014. "Maternal work and children's diet, activity, and obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 196-204.
    13. Bezawit T. Agiro & Wei-Chiao Huang, 2020. "Re-Examining the Effect of Maternal Employment on Child Overweight: The Case of School-Age Children," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 140-157, March.
    14. Georgia S. Papoutsi & Andreas C. Drichoutis & Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr., 2013. "The Causes Of Childhood Obesity: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 743-767, September.
    15. McDonnell, Thérèse & Doyle, Orla, 2019. "Maternal employment and childcare during infancy and childhood overweight," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    16. Zafar Nazarov & Michael S. Rendall, 2011. "Differences by Mother's Education in the Effect of Childcare on Child Obesity," Working Papers WR-890, RAND Corporation.
    17. Cawley, John & Liu, Feng, 2012. "Maternal employment and childhood obesity: A search for mechanisms in time use data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 352-364.
    18. Young Jo, 2018. "Does the earned income tax credit increase children's weight? The impact of policy‐driven income on childhood obesity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(7), pages 1089-1102, July.
    19. Thérèse McDonnell & Orla Doyle, 2014. "Maternal Employment, childcare and childhood overweight during infancy," Working Papers 201411, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    20. Courtemanche, Charles & Pinkston, Joshua C. & Stewart, Jay, 2021. "Time spent exercising and obesity: An application of Lewbel’s instrumental variables method," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:37:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s10834-016-9484-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.