The significance of children's age in estimating the effect of maternal time use on children's well-being

The women's initiative launched by the United Nations Decade for Women has sparked unresolved controversy over the consequences of mothers' increased participation in economically productive activities on children's well-being. Clearly, in many developing countries, poor mothers face stringent time constraints requiring trade-offs in time allocated to various activities, including child caregiving. However, the impact of these trade-offs on children's well-being remains unclear. The effect of maternal time use on children's nutrition and health status requires more rigorous examination. In particular, the role of children's age in this relationship is critical. Although children's requirement for maternal care varies with factors such as their age (a proxy for stage of psychobiological and sociocultural development), season of year and family size and structure, children's age has not been highlighted in the debate or in the relevant research. This paper documents children's age as a critical factor in the relationship between maternal patterns of time use and the well-being of children 18-30 months of age in peri-urban Egypt. It describes differences in maternal patterns of daily time use according to children's age and illustrates the differential associations between maternal daily activity patterns and children's well-being by children's age. Quantitative data collected on 161 mother-toddler pairs included information on maternal daily time allocation, children's dietary energy intake and diarrheal morbidity, maternal hemoglobin, and household and individual sociodemographics. Data were stratified by children's age at 24 months and were analyzed cross-sectionally using multiple linear and logistic regression. Results indicated that the age of two is critical in Kalama. At this age, toddlers begin to receive less time-intensive care freeing mothers for economic and self production. With respect to children's well-being prior to age two, frequency of feeding was positively related to their energy intake and more time spent in household sanitation activities reduced children's risk of diarrhea (during the diarrhea season). After two years of age, the maternal behaviors measured did not affect children's energy intake; however, children's diarrheal risk was reduced (during the diarrhea season) when mothers held them more and allocated more time to household sanitation year-round. We recommend that other investigators carefully examine the relationships between children's well-being according to developmentally-defined child age intervals and maternal patterns of time use. Results will help to resolve concern over the effect of maternal participation in economically productive activities on children's well-being.