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Maternal employment and childhood obesity in China: evidence from the China Health and Nutrition Survey

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  • Peng Nie
  • Alfonso Sousa-Poza

Abstract

Using five waves from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), we investigate the association between maternal employment and obesity in children aged 3--17 in both rural and urban China. Using body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) as measures for paediatric adiposity, we provide scant evidence for its relation to maternal employment. We also find no strong association between maternal employment and our measures for children's diet and physical activity. Our study also suggests that grand-parenting could have beneficial effects on childhood obesity.

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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:46:y:2014:i:20:p:2418-2428
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2014.902025
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    Cited by:

    1. Meyer, Sophie-Charlotte, 2016. "Maternal employment and childhood overweight in Germany," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 84-102.
    2. Jun, Bogang, 2013. "The Trade-off between Fertility and Education: Evidence from the Korean Development Path," MPRA Paper 43971, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Marczak, Martyna & Proietti, Tommaso, 2016. "Outlier detection in structural time series models: The indicator saturation approach," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 180-202.
    4. Wencke Gwozdz, 2016. "Is maternal employment related to childhood obesity?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 267-267, June.
    5. 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.
    6. Cho, Sungju & Lee, Sanghyeon, 2016. "Multilevel Analysis On Mother’S Nutrition Label Use And Children’S Propensity For Being Overweight," Journal of Rural Development/Nongchon-Gyeongje, Korea Rural Economic Institute, vol. 39(Special, ), pages 1-24, December.
    7. Nie, Peng & Ding, Lanlin & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2019. "Decomposing adult obesity trends in China (1991–2011)," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 5-15.
    8. Sophie-Charlotte Meyer, 2015. "Maternal Employment and Childhood Overweight in Germany," Schumpeter Discussion Papers SDP15005, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    9. Si Wang & Qingqing Yang, 2022. "Does weight impact adolescent mental health? Evidence from China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(10), pages 2269-2286, October.
    10. Young Jo & Qing Wang, 2017. "The impact of maternal employment on children's adiposity: Evidence from China's labor policy reform," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 236-255, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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