Department of Policy Analysis and Management and Department of Economics, 3M24 MVR Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States.
Econ Hum Biol. 2012 Dec;10(4):352-64. doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2012.04.009. Epub 2012 Jun 23.
A substantial body of research documents that maternal employment is associated with childhood obesity. This paper explores possible mechanisms for that correlation in the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). We find that maternal employment is associated with working mothers spending, per day, 4 fewer minutes grocery shopping, 17 fewer minutes cooking, 10 fewer minutes eating with children, 12 fewer minutes playing with children, 4 fewer minutes supervising children, and 37 fewer minutes caring for children. The differences tend to be greatest for mothers with young children (age 0-5 years). We explore the extent to which these findings differ by day of the week, whether a partner or spouse is present in the household, whether the mother works non-standard hours, and socioeconomic status. Only a small percentage (about 15%) of the fewer minutes spent in these activities by working mothers appears to be offset by increases in time by husbands and partners. These findings suggest plausible mechanisms for the association between maternal employment and childhood obesity.
大量研究文献证明，母亲就业与儿童肥胖有关。本文在美国时间使用调查（ATUS）中探讨了这种相关性的可能机制。我们发现，母亲就业与每天花在购物上的时间减少 4 分钟、烹饪时间减少 17 分钟、与孩子一起吃饭的时间减少 10 分钟、与孩子玩耍的时间减少 12 分钟、监督孩子的时间减少 4 分钟以及照顾孩子的时间减少 37 分钟有关。这些差异对于有年幼孩子（0-5 岁）的母亲来说往往最大。我们探讨了这些发现在一周中的哪一天、家庭中是否有伴侣或配偶、母亲是否工作非标准时间以及社会经济地位方面的差异程度。只有一小部分（约 15%）花在这些活动上的时间减少被丈夫和伴侣增加的时间所抵消。这些发现为母亲就业与儿童肥胖之间的关联提供了合理的机制。
