Ricci J A, Jerome N W, Sirageldin I, Aly H, Moussa W, Galal O, Harrison G G, Kirksey A
Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Baltimore, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 1996 Mar;42(5):651-9. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(95)00194-8.
The women's initiative launched by the United Nations Decade for Women has sparked unresolved controversy over the consequences of mothers' increased participation in economically productive activities on children's well-being. Clearly, in many developing countries, poor mothers face stringent time constraints requiring trade-offs in time allocated to various activities, including child caregiving. However, the impact of these trade-offs on children's well-being remains unclear. The effect of maternal time use on children's nutrition and health status requires more rigorous examination. In particular, the role of children's age in this relationship is critical. Although children's requirement for maternal care varies with factors such as their age (a proxy for stage of psychobiological and sociocultural development), season of year and family size and structure, children's age has not been highlighted in the debate or in the relevant research. This paper documents children's age as a critical factor in the relationship between maternal patterns of time use and the well-being of children 18-30 months of age in peri-urban Egypt. It describes differences in maternal patterns of daily time use according to children's age and illustrates the differential associations between maternal daily activity patterns and children's well-being by children's age. Quantitative data collected on 161 mother-toddler pairs included information on maternal daily time allocation, children's dietary energy intake and diarrheal morbidity, maternal hemoglobin, and household and individual sociodemographics. Data were stratified by children's age at 24 months and were analyzed cross-sectionally using multiple linear and logistic regression. Results indicated that the age of two is critical in Kalama. At this age, toddlers begin to receive less time-intensive care freeing mothers for economic and self production. With respect to children's well-being prior to age two, frequency of feeding was positively related to their energy intake and more time spent in household sanitation activities reduced children's risk of diarrhea (during the diarrhea season). After two years of age, the maternal behaviors measured did not affect children's energy intake; however, children's diarrheal risk was reduced (during the diarrhea season) when mothers held them more and allocated more time to household sanitation year-round. We recommend that other investigators carefully examine the relationships between children's well-being according to developmentally-defined child age intervals and maternal patterns of time use. Results will help to resolve concern over the effect of maternal participation in economically productive activities on children's well-being.
联合国妇女十年发起的妇女倡议引发了关于母亲更多参与经济生产活动对儿童福祉影响的未解决争议。显然，在许多发展中国家，贫困母亲面临着严格的时间限制，需要在分配给各种活动的时间上进行权衡，包括照顾孩子。然而，这些权衡对儿童福祉的影响仍不明确。母亲时间利用对儿童营养和健康状况的影响需要更严格的审视。特别是，儿童年龄在这种关系中的作用至关重要。虽然儿童对母亲照顾的需求因年龄（心理生物学和社会文化发展阶段的一个指标）、一年中的季节以及家庭规模和结构等因素而有所不同，但儿童年龄在这场辩论或相关研究中并未得到突出强调。本文记录了儿童年龄是埃及城郊18至30个月大儿童的母亲时间利用模式与儿童福祉之间关系的一个关键因素。它描述了根据儿童年龄划分的母亲日常时间利用模式的差异，并说明了母亲日常活动模式与儿童福祉之间按儿童年龄划分的不同关联。收集的161对母婴的定量数据包括母亲日常时间分配、儿童膳食能量摄入和腹泻发病率、母亲血红蛋白以及家庭和个人社会人口统计学信息。数据按24个月时儿童的年龄分层，并使用多元线性和逻辑回归进行横断面分析。结果表明，两岁在卡拉马是关键年龄。在这个年龄，幼儿开始接受时间投入较少的照顾，使母亲能够从事经济活动和自我生产。关于两岁之前儿童的福祉，喂养频率与他们的能量摄入呈正相关，在家居卫生活动中花费更多时间降低了儿童腹泻的风险（在腹泻季节）。两岁之后，所测量的母亲行为并未影响儿童的能量摄入；然而，当母亲更多地抱孩子并全年为家居卫生分配更多时间时，儿童腹泻风险降低了（在腹泻季节）。我们建议其他研究人员根据发育定义的儿童年龄区间仔细研究儿童福祉与母亲时间利用模式之间的关系。研究结果将有助于解决对母亲参与经济生产活动对儿童福祉影响的担忧。
