The Connection between Maternal Employment and Childhood Obesity: Inspecting the Mechanisms
- Presenter:
Chair: Albert Okunade; Discussant: TBA Tue June 6, 2006 8:00-9:30 Room 309
This paper investigates the channels through which maternal employment affects childhood obesity. We use time diaries and interview responses from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics which combine vital information on children’s time allocation and mother’s labor force participation. Our empirical strategy involves estimating the effect of children’s activities and meal routines on children’s body mass index (BMI), estimating the effect of maternal employment on these activities and routines and then combining these two estimates. We find that the effect of activities on BMI and the effect of maternal employment on activities vary greatly by the mother’s educational status. In particular, when mothers are highly educated, mother’s employment significantly increases time spent watching TV, which in turn, significantly increases a child’s BMI, while when mothers have little education, mother’s employment significantly increases time spent in school, which in turn, significantly decreases a child’s BMI. However, both groups share the same nutritional effect - higher levels of employment reduce the number of meals consumed per day by children, which increases their BMI.
