Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
University of Technology Sydney, Building 10, Level 8, Room 109 235-253 Jones Street, Ultimo, NSW, 2007, Australia.
Matern Child Health J. 2024 Jun;28(6):1052-1060. doi: 10.1007/s10995-024-03897-4. Epub 2024 Feb 9.
This study aimed to examine the long-term influence of having a child at risk of different developmental delays (communication, mobility, self-care, relating, learning, coping, or behaving) on parental labor force participation as the child grows.
A retrospective cohort was conducted using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children survey, Waves 1-8 covering birth to 15 years of age of children. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to explore the odds ratio of mothers being out of the labor force at different children's ages. Cox proportional hazards models were utilized to identify the 'risk' of mothers returning to the workforce after leaving. All models were adjusted for the mother's age, education attainment, and employment status at time of birth, as well as marital status at the current wave.
There were 5,107 records of children, and 266 of them were at risk of any developmental delays at age 4-5 years. This sample represents 243, 026 children born in Australia in 2003/04. After adjusting for potential confounders, mothers of children at risk of each type of developmental delay (except mobility and self-care) had greater odds of being out of, and not returning to the labor force from children aged 2-3 to 14-15 years, when compared to mothers of children who are not at risk of developmental delays. Similar differences were found for fathers but were distinctly small and with narrower fluctuations, compared to mothers.
Policies and programs funded by the government are greatly needed to support the mothers of children at risk of developmental delays.
本研究旨在探讨儿童存在不同发育迟缓风险（沟通、行动、自理、社交、学习、应对或行为）对父母劳动力参与的长期影响，以及儿童成长过程中的这种影响。
本研究使用澳大利亚儿童纵向研究调查的 Wave1-8 数据进行回顾性队列研究，涵盖了儿童从出生到 15 岁的年龄。采用多变量逻辑回归探讨母亲在不同儿童年龄时处于非劳动力状态的几率比。采用 Cox 比例风险模型确定母亲离开劳动力队伍后重新就业的“风险”。所有模型均调整了母亲在出生时的年龄、教育程度和就业状况，以及当前波次的婚姻状况。
共有 5107 条儿童记录，其中 266 名儿童在 4-5 岁时存在任何发育迟缓的风险。该样本代表了 2003/04 年在澳大利亚出生的 243026 名儿童。在调整了潜在混杂因素后，与不存在发育迟缓风险的儿童的母亲相比，存在各种发育迟缓风险（行动和自理除外）的儿童的母亲在 2-3 岁至 14-15 岁期间处于非劳动力状态且不再返回劳动力队伍的几率更大。对于父亲也发现了类似的差异，但明显较小且波动幅度较窄。
政府需要制定和实施政策和计划，为存在发育迟缓风险的儿童的母亲提供支持。
