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Parental employment and work-family stress: Associations with family food environments

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  • Bauer, Katherine W.
  • Hearst, Mary O.
  • Escoto, Kamisha
  • Berge, Jerica M.
  • Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne

Abstract

Parental employment provides many benefits to children's health. However, an increasing number of studies have observed associations between mothers' full-time employment and less healthful family food environments. Few studies have examined other ways in which parental employment may be associated with the family food environment, including the role of fathers' employment and parents' stress balancing work and home obligations. This study utilized data from Project F-EAT, a population-based study of a socio-demographically diverse sample of 3709 parents of adolescents living in a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States, to examine cross-sectional associations between mothers' and fathers' employment status and parents' work-life stress with multiple aspects of the family food environment. Among parents participating in Project F-EAT, 64% of fathers and 46% of mothers were full-time employed, while 25% of fathers and 37% of mothers were not employed. Results showed that full-time employed mothers reported fewer family meals, less frequent encouragement of their adolescents' healthful eating, lower fruit and vegetable intake, and less time spent on food preparation, compared to part-time and not-employed mothers, after adjusting for socio-demographics. Full-time employed fathers reported significantly fewer hours of food preparation; no other associations were seen between fathers' employment status and characteristics of the family food environment. In contrast, higher work-life stress among both parents was associated with less healthful family food environment characteristics including less frequent family meals and more frequent sugar-sweetened beverage and fast food consumption by parents. Among dual-parent families, taking into account the employment characteristics of the other parent did not substantially alter the relationships between work-life stress and family food environment characteristics. While parental employment is beneficial for many families, identifying policy and programmatic strategies to reduce parents' work-life stress may have positive implications for the family food environment and for the eating patterns and related health outcomes of children and parents.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:3:p:496-504
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.026
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Thérèse McDonnell & Orla Doyle, 2014. "Maternal Employment, childcare and childhood overweight during infancy," Working Papers 201411, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    4. Hena Imtiyaz & Peeyush Soni & Vimolwan Yukongdi, 2023. "Assessing the Consumers’ Purchase Intention and Consumption of Convenience Food in Emerging Economy: The Role of Physical Determinants," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440221, January.
    5. Renada M. Goldberg, 2024. "Precarious Work Patterns on Workers’ Perceptions of Family-Level Resources, Cohesion, and Flexibility," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 184-199, March.
    6. Sophie-Charlotte Meyer, 2015. "Maternal Employment and Childhood Overweight in Germany," Schumpeter Discussion Papers SDP15005, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
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    8. Milovanska-Farrington, Stefani, 2020. "Parents labor supply and childhood obesity: Evidence from Scotland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    9. 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.
    10. Schnettler, Berta & Grunert, Klaus G. & Lobos, Germán & Miranda-Zapata, Edgardo & Denegri, Marianela & Lapo, María & Hueche, Clementina & Rojas, Juan, 2019. "Maternal well-being, food involvement and quality of diet: Profiles of single mother-adolescent dyads," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 336-345.
    11. 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.
    12. Venn, Danielle & Strazdins, Lyndall, 2017. "Your money or your time? How both types of scarcity matter to physical activity and healthy eating," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 98-106.
    13. Siril Alm & Svein Ottar Olsen, 2017. "Coping with Time Pressure and Stress: Consequences for Families’ Food Consumption," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 105-123, March.
    14. Fertig, Angela R. & de Brito, Junia N. & Trofholz, Amanda C. & Berge, Jerica M., 2022. "Maternal employment and child weight-related health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    15. Zasimova, Liudmila, 2022. "The association between fast-food consumption and job-related factors among Russian adults," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    16. McDonnell, Thérèse & Doyle, Orla, 2019. "Maternal employment and childcare during infancy and childhood overweight," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    17. Strazdins, Lyndall & OBrien, Léan V. & Lucas, Nina & Rodgers, Bryan, 2013. "Combining work and family: Rewards or risks for children's mental health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 99-107.
    18. Berta Schnettler & Edgardo Miranda-Zapata & Klaus G. Grunert & Germán Lobos & María Lapo & Clementina Hueche, 2021. "Testing the Spillover-Crossover Model between Work-Life Balance and Satisfaction in Different Domains of Life in Dual-Earner Households," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 1475-1501, August.
    19. 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.
    20. Dasgupta, Kabir & Solomon, Keisha T., 2018. "Family size effects on childhood obesity: Evidence on the quantity-quality trade-off using the NLSY," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 42-55.

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