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Maternal Employment and Childhood Obesity: A Search for Mechanisms in Time Use Data

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Author Info
John Cawley
Feng Liu

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Abstract

Recent research has found that maternal employment is associated with an increased risk of childhood obesity. This paper explores mechanisms for that correlation. We estimate models of instrumental variables using a unique dataset, the American Time Use Survey, that measure the effect of maternal employment on the mother’s allocation of time to activities related to child diet and physical activity. We find that employed women spend significantly less time cooking, eating with their children, and playing with their children, and are more likely to purchase prepared foods. We find suggestive evidence that these decreases in time are only partly offset by husbands and partners. These findings offer plausible mechanisms for the association of maternal employment with childhood obesity.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 13600.

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Date of creation: Nov 2007
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13600

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Production
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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  1. Papers and articles using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS)
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  1. 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. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Wendt, Minh, 2008. "Economic, Environmental, and Endowment Effects on Childhood Obesity," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6571, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association). [Downloadable!]
  3. Chris M. Herbst & Erdal Tekin, 2009. "Child Care Subsidies and Childhood Obesity," NBER Working Papers 15007, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Currie, Janet & DellaVigna, Stefano & Moretti, Enrico & Pathania, Vikram, 2009. "The Effect of Fast Food Restaurants on Obesity," Working Papers 47830, American Association of Wine Economists. [Downloadable!]
  5. Janet Currie & Stefano DellaVigna & Enrico Moretti & Vikram Pathania, 2009. "The Effect of Fast Food Restaurants on Obesity and Weight Gain," NBER Working Papers 14721, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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