How mothers’ work affects children’s nutritional intake and health outcomes?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Maternal work can be considered a double-edged sword when it comes to the health needs of children. Based on the China Health and Nutrition Survey, this study investigated the effects of maternal working hours and job type on children’s physical health in rural China and attempted to disentangle the mechanisms of these effects. This study found that an increase in maternal working hours decreased the body mass index for age z-score (BAZ) of overweight children and increased the proportion of children with healthy BAZ; however, this effect was significant only for boys and resulted primarily from non-farm work. These effects may have been due to healthier daily nutritional intake of children and non-farm income increases among mothers but also may have come at the cost of a heavier housework burden on mothers. The results illustrate the importance of guaranteeing women’s employment opportunities and equal income right and highlight the importance of focusing on women’s joint work and family burden.