The Relationship Between Physical Growth Indices and Maternal Employment in Children Aged 7 to 11 Years

Abstract

Background: It has been reported that differences in the level of education and employment status of the parents can affect the children’s growth index. Objectives: Given the importance of children’s optimal growth rate on society’s health and since parental employment can alter children’s growth index, we decided to conduct a comparative study of the growth indices of children aged 7 to 11 years with working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Methods: A sample of 300 male students aged 7 to 11 years was selected using convenience sampling. The children’s height, weight, and BMI were measured by a trained individual twice to reduce error. After collecting the required information from 300 students, data analysis was performed in SPSS 24 and Microsoft Excel using the analysis of independent t-test at the significance level of 0.05. Results: Of the 300 students examined, 21.7% (n = 65) were 7 years old, 20.7% (n = 62) were 8 years old, 21% (n = 63) were 9 years old, 20% (n = 60) were 10 years old, and 16.7% (n = 50) were 11 years old. Moreover, 225 mothers stayed at home, and 75 worked. Based on the independent t-test to compare the BMI of the children whose mothers stayed at home and those whose mothers worked, a significant difference was observed only in children aged 7 years, whose BMI was lower in the working mothers’ group (P = 0.02). Conclusions: It seems that children who have stay-at-home mothers tend to have better growth than those whose mothers work at certain ages.