Does Maternal Employment Affect Parental Time Allocated to Children's Food Consumption and Physical Activity? Evidence from the Korean Time Use Survey

Abstract

This study uses the 1999-2009 Korean Time Use Survey to explore how mothers' employment affects parental time spent in activities that may relate to their children's weight. Specifically, it estimates two-part regression models to assess the effects of maternal employment upon the amount of time mothers spend in activities potentially related to their preschool children's eating and physical activity. The findings suggest that working mothers and those mothers who work longer hours allocate significantly less time in food preparation, eating with the child, and supervising the child's physical activity than mothers who are not employed and those who work fewer hours. The paper also finds that spouses of working mothers do not allocate more time to these activities to offset the reduction in mothers' time. Also, using local unemployment rates as instrumental variables, maternal employment is found to allow mothers to spend significantly more time on food preparation and family meals, although its effect on mothers' total childcare time is negative. Several aspects of Korean society may have made the relationship between maternal employment and childhood weight issues different from what was found in other countries.