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Maternal Employment and Childhood Obesity: A European Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Gwozdz, Wencke

    (Copenhagen Business School)

  • Sousa-Poza, Alfonso

    (University of Hohenheim)

  • Reisch, Lucia A.

    (Copenhagen Business School)

  • Ahrens, Wolfgang

    (University of Bremen)

  • De Henauw, Stefaan

    (Ghent University)

  • Eiben, Gabriele

    (University of Gothenburg)

  • Fernández-Alvira, Juan M.

    (University of Zaragoza)

  • Hadjigeorgiou, Charalampos

    (affiliation not available)

  • Kovács, Eva

    (University of Pecs)

  • Lauria, Fabio

    (National Research Council, Italy)

  • Veidebaum, Toomas

    (affiliation not available)

  • Williams, Garrath

    (Lancaster University)

  • Bammann, Karin

    (University of Bremen)

Abstract

The substantial increase in female employment rates in Europe over the past two decades has often been linked in political and public rhetoric to negative effects on child development, including obesity. We analyse this association between maternal employment and childhood obesity using rich objective reports of various anthropometric and other measures of fatness from the IDEFICS study of children aged 2-9 in 16 regions of eight European countries. Based on such data as accelerometer measures and information from nutritional diaries, we also investigate the effects of maternal employment on obesity's main drivers: calorie intake and physical activity. Our analysis provides little evidence for any association between maternal employment and childhood obesity, diet or physical activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Gwozdz, Wencke & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & Reisch, Lucia A. & Ahrens, Wolfgang & De Henauw, Stefaan & Eiben, Gabriele & Fernández-Alvira, Juan M. & Hadjigeorgiou, Charalampos & Kovács, Eva & Lauria, Fabio, 2013. "Maternal Employment and Childhood Obesity: A European Perspective," IZA Discussion Papers 7371, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7371
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    Cited by:

    1. Jonathan Briody, 2020. "Parental Unemployment During the Great Recession and Childhood Adiposity," Working Papers 202002, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    2. Spahn, Peter, 2013. "Macroeconomic stabilisation and bank lending: A simple workhorse model," FZID Discussion Papers 76-2013, University of Hohenheim, Center for Research on Innovation and Services (FZID).
    3. Courtemanche, Charles & Tchernis, Rusty & Zhou, Xilin, 2017. "Parental Work Hours and Childhood Obesity: Evidence Using Instrumental Variables Related to Sibling School Eligibility," IZA Discussion Papers 10739, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Meyer, Sophie-Charlotte, 2016. "Maternal employment and childhood overweight in Germany," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 84-102.
    5. Thérèse McDonnell & Orla Doyle, 2014. "Maternal Employment, childcare and childhood overweight during infancy," Working Papers 201411, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    6. Wencke Gwozdz, 2016. "Is maternal employment related to childhood obesity?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 267-267, June.
    7. Datar, Ashlesha & Nicosia, Nancy & Shier, Victoria, 2014. "Maternal work and children's diet, activity, and obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 196-204.
    8. Gwozdz, Wencke & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & Reisch, Lucia A. & Bammann, Karin & Eiben, Gabriele & Kourides, Yiannis & Kovács, Éva & Lauria, Fabio & Konstabel, Kenn & Santaliestra-Pasias, Alba M. & Vyncke, , 2015. "Peer effects on obesity in a sample of European children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 139-152.
    9. 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.
    10. Li, Jianghong & Akaliyski, Plamen & Schäfer, Jakob & Kendall, Garth & Oddy, Wendy H. & Stanley, Fiona & Strazdins, Lyndall, 2017. "Non-linear relationship between maternal work hours and child body weight: Evidence from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 186, pages 52-60.
    11. Costa-Font, Joan & Jofre-Bonet, Mireia, 2020. "Is the intergenerational transmission of overweight ‘gender assortative’?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    12. Qihua Qiu & Jaesang Sung, 2021. "The effects of graduated driver licensing on teenage body weight," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(11), pages 2829-2846, November.
    13. Crudu, F.; & Neri, L.; & Tiezzi, S.;, 2018. "Family Ties and Children Obesity in Italy," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 18/09, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    14. Crudu, Federico & Neri, Laura & Tiezzi, Silvia, 2021. "Family ties and child obesity in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    15. Bezawit T. Agiro & Wei-Chiao Huang, 2020. "Re-Examining the Effect of Maternal Employment on Child Overweight: The Case of School-Age Children," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 140-157, March.
    16. Sophie-Charlotte Meyer, 2015. "Maternal Employment and Childhood Overweight in Germany," Schumpeter Discussion Papers SDP15005, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    17. Tosi, Francesca & Rettaroli, Rosella, 2022. "Intergenerational transmission of dietary habits among Italian children and adolescents," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    18. 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.
    19. McDonnell, Thérèse & Doyle, Orla, 2019. "Maternal employment and childcare during infancy and childhood overweight," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    20. Briody, Jonathan, 2021. "Parental unemployment during the Great Recession and childhood adiposity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    children; maternal employment; obesity; Europe;
    All these keywords.

    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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