Outsourcing Meals: Effects of Maternal Work on Children’s School Meal Participation

Abstract

Maternal work may affect how mothers allocate time toward activities related to children’s diet and overall well-being. One potential consequence is that mothers may outsource meal preparation. In particular, school meals might replace brown-bag meals because they are subsidized, convenient, and nutritionally regulated. This study examines whether increases in maternal work influence children’s school breakfast and lunch participation, addressing the endogeneity of maternal work using local labor market indicators as instrumental variables. Results suggest that children whose mothers work are more likely to participate in school lunch. However, these children are less likely to participate in school breakfast and more likely to eat breakfast at home with family than are children of nonworking women. These results are qualitatively similar across full- and part-time work status and various socioeconomic groups, although the magnitudes vary. The article concludes with a discussion of the potential mechanism...