The Experts below are selected from a list of 297 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform

Phillip B Levine - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Maternal Employment and overweight children
    Journal of Health Economics, 2003
    Co-Authors: Patricia M Anderson, Kristin F Butcher, Phillip B Levine
    Abstract:

    This paper seeks to determine whether a causal relationship exists between Maternal Employment and childhood overweight. We use matched mother/child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and employ econometric techniques to control for observable and unobservable differences across individuals and families that may influence both children's weight and their mothers' work patterns. Our results indicate that a child is more likely to be overweight if his/her mother worked more hours per week over the child's life. Analyses by subgroups show that it is higher socioeconomic status mothers whose work intensity is particularly deleterious for their children's overweight status.

  • Maternal Employment and overweight children
    National Bureau of Economic Research, 2002
    Co-Authors: Patricia M Anderson, Kristin F Butcher, Phillip B Levine
    Abstract:

    This paper investigates whether children are more or less likely to be overweight if their mothers work. The prevalence of both overweight children and working mothers has risen dramatically over the past few decades, although these parallel trends may be coincidental. The goal of this paper is to help determine whether a causal relationship exists between Maternal Employment and childhood overweight. To accomplish this, we mainly utilize matched mother/child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and employ three main econometric techniques, probit models, sibling difference models, and instrumental variables models in this analysis. Our results indicate that a child is more likely to be overweight if his/her mother worked more intensively (in the form of greater hours per week) over the child's life. This effect is particularly evident for children of white mothers, of mothers with more education, and of mothers with a high income level. Applying our estimates to the trend towards greater Maternal Employment indicates that the increased hours worked per week among mothers between 1975 and 1999 led to about a 0.4 to 0.7 percentage point increase in overweight children, which represents a relatively small share of the overall increase.

Jeanne Brooksgunn - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Maternal Employment stability in early childhood links with child behavior and cognitive skills
    Developmental Psychology, 2017
    Co-Authors: Natasha V Pilkauskas, Jeanne Brooksgunn, Jane Waldfogel
    Abstract:

    : Although many studies have investigated links between Maternal Employment and children's wellbeing, less research has considered whether the stability of Maternal Employment is linked with child outcomes. Using unique Employment calendar data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,011), an urban birth cohort study of largely low-income families, this paper investigates whether the stability of Maternal Employment in early childhood (birth to age 5) is linked with child behavior and cognitive skills at ages 5 and 9. Employment stability (continuous Employment over all 5 years, low levels of job churning, longer job tenure) was linked with less child externalizing behavior, but there was little evidence to suggest stability was particularly important for PPVT and Woodcock-Johnson scores. Rather, for PPVT and Woodcock-Johnson scores, an increase in Maternal Employment in early childhood more generally was associated with higher scores. (PsycINFO Database Record

  • first year Maternal Employment and adolescent externalizing behavior
    Journal of Child and Family Studies, 2017
    Co-Authors: Anne Conway, Jeanne Brooksgunn, Jane Waldfogel
    Abstract:

    Associations between first-year Maternal Employment and mother—and youth-reported externalizing behavior at age 15 were examined paying attention to potential mediating roles of home and child care environments by 36 months, effortful control at 54 months, and externalizing behavior at 54 months and middle childhood. We used data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n = 922 non-Hispanic White children) which is a prospective birth cohort study that followed children from birth to age 15. Full-time first-year Maternal Employment was associated with higher levels of externalizing behavior at age 15 through higher Maternal depressive symptoms by 36 months, lower effortful control at 54 months, and higher externalizing behavior at 54 months and middle childhood. Part-time first-year Maternal Employment was not associated with higher externalizing behavior at age 15.

  • effects of early Maternal Employment on Maternal health and well being
    Journal of Population Economics, 2013
    Co-Authors: Pinka Chatterji, Sara Markowitz, Jeanne Brooksgunn
    Abstract:

    This study uses data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study on Early Child Care to examine the effects of Maternal Employment on Maternal mental and overall health, self-reported parenting stress, and parenting quality. These outcomes are measured when children are 6 months old. Among mothers of 6-month-old infants, Maternal work hours are positively associated with depressive symptoms and parenting stress and negatively associated with self-rated overall health. However, Maternal Employment is not associated with quality of parenting at 6 months, based on trained assessors’ observations of Maternal sensitivity.

  • early Maternal Employment and family wellbeing
    National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011
    Co-Authors: Pinka Chatterji, Sara Markowitz, Jeanne Brooksgunn
    Abstract:

    This study uses longitudinal data from the NICHD Study on Early Child Care (SECC) to examine the effects of Maternal Employment on family well-being, measured by Maternal mental and overall health, parenting stress, and parenting quality. First, we estimate the effects of Maternal Employment on these outcomes measured when children are 6 months old. Next, we use dynamic panel data models to examine the effects of Maternal Employment on family outcomes during the first 4.5 years of children's lives. Among mothers of six month old infants, Maternal work hours are positively associated with depressive symptoms and self-reported parenting stress, and negatively associated with self-rated overall health among mothers. Compared to mothers who are on leave 3 months after childbirth, mothers who are working full-time score 22 percent higher on the CES-D scale of depressive symptoms. However, Maternal Employment is not associated with the quality of parenting at 6 months, based on trained assessors' observations of Maternal sensitivity. Moreover, during the first 4.5 years of life as a whole, we find only weak evidence that Maternal work hours are associated with Maternal health, and no evidence that Maternal Employment is associated with parenting stress and quality. We find that unobserved heterogeneity is an important factor in modeling family outcomes.

  • first year Maternal Employment and child development in the first 7 years
    2010
    Co-Authors: Jeanne Brooksgunn, Jane Waldfogel
    Abstract:

    Using data from the first 2 phases of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care, we examine the links between Maternal Employment in the first 12 months of life and cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes for children at age 3, age 4½, and first grade. Drawing on theory and prior research from developmental psychology as well as economics and sociology, we address three main questions. First, what associations exist between first-year Maternal Employment and cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes for children over the first seven years of life? Second, to what extent do any such associations vary by the child’s gender and temperament, or the mother’s occupation? Third, to what extent do mother’s earnings, the home environment (Maternal depressive symptoms, sensitivity, and HOME scores), and the type and quality of child care mediate or offset any associations between first-year Employment and child outcomes, and what is the net effect of first-year Maternal Employment once these factors are taken into account? We compare families in which mothers worked full time (55%), part time (23%), or did not work (22%) in the first year for non-Hispanic white children (N=900) and for African-American children (N=113). Comparisons are also made taking into account the timing of mothers’ Employment within the first year. A rich set of control variables are included. OLS and SEM analyses are constructed. With regard to cognitive outcomes, first, we find that full-time Maternal Employment in the first 12 months of life (but not part-time Employment) is associated with significantly lower scores on some, but not all, measures of cognitive development at age 3, 4 ½, and first grade for non-Hispanic white children, but with no significant associations for the small sample of African-American children Part-time Employment in the first year is associated with higher scores than full-time Employment for some measures. Employment in the second and third year of life is not associated with the cognitive outcomes. Second, we examine the role of the child’s gender and temperament and the mother’s occupation in moderating the associations between first-year Maternal Employment and cognitive outcomes, but find few significant interactions for either child characteristics or mother’s occupation. Third, we examine the role of an extensive set of potential mediators – the mother’s earnings, the home environment, and the type and quality of child care. We find that mothers who worked full time have higher income in the first year of life and thereafter, that mothers who worked part time have higher HOME and Maternal sensitivity scores than mothers who did not work or worked full time, and that mothers who worked either full time or part time were more likely to place their children in high-quality child care by age 3 and 4 ½ and their children spent more time in center-based care by age 4 ½ than in families where mothers did not work in the first year of life. However, we also find some links between first-year Maternal Employment and elevated levels of Maternal depressive symptoms thereafter. Turning to results from structural equation modeling, we find that the overall effects of first-year Maternal Employment on the cognitive outcomes are neutral. This occurs because significantly negative direct effects of full-time first-year Employment are offset by significantly positive indirect effects working through more use of center-based care and greater Maternal sensitivity by age 4 ½. Regarding social and emotional outcomes, several findings, again limited to non-Hispanic white children, stand out. First, we find no significant associations between first-year Maternal Employment and later social and emotional outcomes (including attachment security) when comparing children whose mothers worked full-time or part-time in the first year with the reference group of children whose mothers did not work in the first year, although in models that take the timing of Employment within the first year into account, we find some significant associations between full-time Maternal Employment in the first year and higher levels of caregiver- or teacher-reported externalizing problems at age 4 ½ and first grade. Second, part-time Maternal Employment by 12 months tends to be associated with fewer externalizing problems at age 4 ½ and first grade than full time Maternal Employment by 12 months. These results are unchanged when we allow for the possibility of moderation by child characteristics or Maternal occupation. Third, the results from SEM models indicate that, while neither full-time nor part-time first-year Employment has significant total effects on children’s externalizing behavior problems at age 4 ½ or first grade, part-time first-year Employment has indirect positive effects, working primarily through differences in the home environment and Maternal sensitivity. Another important finding from the SEM models is that center-based care, which is often associated with Maternal Employment, is not significantly associated with elevated levels of child behavior problems. Taken together, our findings provide new insight as to the net effects of first-year Maternal Employment as well as the potential pathways through which associations between first-year Maternal Employment and later child outcomes, where present, come about. Our SEM results indicate that, on average, the associations between first-year Maternal Employment and later cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes are neutral, because negative effects, where present, are offset by positive effects. These results confirm that Maternal Employment in the first year of life may confer both advantages and disadvantages and that for the average non-Hispanic white child, those effects balance each other.

Markus Klein - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • early Maternal Employment and children s vocabulary and inductive reasoning ability a dynamic approach
    Child Development, 2018
    Co-Authors: Michael Kühhirt, Markus Klein
    Abstract:

    This study investigates the relationship between early Maternal Employment history and children’s vocabulary and inductive reasoning ability at age 5, drawing on longitudinal information on 2,200 children from the Growing Up in Scotland data. Prior research rarely addresses dynamics in Maternal Employment and the methodological ramifications of time-variant confounding. The present study proposes various measures to capture duration, timing, and stability of early Maternal Employment and uses inverse probability of treatment weighting to control for time-variant confounders that may partially mediate the effect of Maternal Employment on cognitive scores. The findings suggest only modest differences in the above ability measures between children with similar observed covariate history but who have been exposed to very different patterns of early Maternal Employment.

  • Early Maternal Employment and Children’s Vocabulary and Inductive Reasoning Ability: A Dynamic Approach
    2017
    Co-Authors: Michael Kühhirt, Markus Klein
    Abstract:

    This study investigates the relationship between early Maternal Employment history and children’s vocabulary and inductive reasoning ability at age 5, drawing on longitudinal information on 2,200 children from the Growing Up in Scotland data. Prior research rarely addresses dynamics in Maternal Employment and the methodological ramifications of time-variant confounding. The present study proposes various measures to capture duration, timing, and stability of early Maternal Employment and uses inverse probability of treatment weighting to control for time-variant confounders that may partially mediate the effect of Maternal Employment on cognitive scores. The findings suggest only modest differences in the above ability measures between children with similar observed covariate history but who have been exposed to very different patterns of early Maternal Employment.

Janaki Ramanan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • effects of early and recent Maternal Employment on children from low income families
    Child Development, 1992
    Co-Authors: Deborah Lowe Vandell, Janaki Ramanan
    Abstract:

    The effects of early Maternal Employment (Employment during the child's first 3 years) and recent Maternal Employment (Employment during the previous 3 years) on 189 second-grade children from low-income families were examined. Maternal Employment was related to a number of selection factors. In comparison to mothers who were not employed, employed mothers scored higher on a mental aptitude test and were more highly educated. Both early and recent Maternal Employment were also associated with measures of the current family functioning: there was less poverty and higher HOME environment scores when mothers were employed. Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that children's math achievement was positively predicted by early Maternal Employment and children's reading achievement was positively predicted by recent Maternal Employment, even after controlling for selection effects and current family environment. These results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms by which Maternal Employment may affect children's development.

John Cawley - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Maternal Employment and childhood obesity a search for mechanisms in time use data
    Economics and Human Biology, 2012
    Co-Authors: John Cawley
    Abstract:

    A substantial body of research documents that Maternal Employment is associated with childhood obesity. This paper explores possible mechanisms for that correlation in the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). We find that Maternal Employment is associated with working mothers spending, per day, 4 fewer minutes grocery shopping, 17 fewer minutes cooking, 10 fewer minutes eating with children, 12 fewer minutes playing with children, 4 fewer minutes supervising children, and 37 fewer minutes caring for children. The differences tend to be greatest for mothers with young children (age 0–5 years). We explore the extent to which these findings differ by day of the week, whether a partner or spouse is present in the household, whether the mother works non-standard hours, and socioeconomic status. Only a small percentage (about 15%) of the fewer minutes spent in these activities by working mothers appears to be offset by increases in time by husbands and partners. These findings suggest plausible mechanisms for the association between Maternal Employment and childhood obesity.

  • Mechanisms for the Association between Maternal Employment and Child Cognitive Development
    National Bureau of Economic Research, 2007
    Co-Authors: John Cawley
    Abstract:

    Recent research has found that Maternal Employment is associated with worse child performance on tests of cognitive ability. This paper explores mechanisms for that correlation. We estimate models of instrumental variables using a unique dataset, the American Time Use Survey, that measure the effect of Maternal Employment on the mother's allocation of time to activities related to child cognitive development. We find that employed women spend significantly less time reading to their children, helping with homework, and in educational activities in general. We find no evidence that these decreases in time are offset by increases in time by husbands and partners. These findings offer plausible mechanisms for the association of Maternal Employment with child cognitive development.

  • Maternal Employment and childhood obesity a search for mechanisms in time use data
    National Bureau of Economic Research, 2007
    Co-Authors: John Cawley
    Abstract:

    Recent research has found that Maternal Employment is associated with an increased risk of childhood obesity. This paper explores mechanisms for that correlation. We estimate models of instrumental variables using a unique dataset, the American Time Use Survey, that measure the effect of Maternal Employment on the mother's allocation of time to activities related to child diet and physical activity. We find that employed women spend significantly less time cooking, eating with their children, and playing with their children, and are more likely to purchase prepared foods. We find suggestive evidence that these decreases in time are only partly offset by husbands and partners. These findings offer plausible mechanisms for the association of Maternal Employment with childhood obesity.