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Long commutes to work during pregnancy and infant health at birth

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  • Wang, Yang
  • Yang, Muzhe

Abstract

We conduct the first empirical study to examine the health impact of long commutes to work during pregnancy on fetuses and infants at birth, using unique data that contain information on not only a woman's home address but also her employer's address during pregnancy, which allows us to calculate the maternal travel distance during pregnancy. Our study contributes to the literature on the relationship between maternal stress during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes by focusing on the understudied chronic stress induced by long commutes, rather than the stress triggered by a one-time significant event, such as a natural disaster. We find that among long-distance commuters, increasing the maternal travel distance during pregnancy by 10 miles is associated with increases in the probabilities of low birth weight and intrauterine growth restriction by 0.9 and 0.6 percentage points, respectively. In addition to the maternal stress induced by long commutes being one potential biological mechanism, we find suggestive evidence showing that maternal long commutes during pregnancy are also associated with under-utilization of prenatal care.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Yang & Yang, Muzhe, 2019. "Long commutes to work during pregnancy and infant health at birth," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:35:y:2019:i:c:p:1-17
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2019.03.006
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    Cited by:

    1. Shirlee Lichtman-Sadot & Neta Benshalom-Tirosh & Eyal Sheiner, 2020. "Conflict, Rockets, and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Israel’s Operation Protective Edge," Working Papers 2009, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    2. Trommlerová, Sofia K., 2020. "When children have children: The effects of child marriages and teenage pregnancies on early childhood mortality in Bangladesh," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    3. Le, Kien & Nguyen, My, 2022. "Desert locust swarms and child health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    4. Lichtman-Sadot, Shirlee & Benshalom-Tirosh, Neta & Sheiner, Eyal, 2020. "Conflict, Rockets, and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from Israel's Operation Protective Edge," IZA Discussion Papers 13394, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Long commutes; Travel distance; Birth outcomes; Maternal stress; Prenatal visits;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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