Re-Examining the Effect of Maternal Employment on Child Overweight: The Case of School-Age Children

Bezawit T. Agiro and Wei-Chiao Huang ()
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Bezawit T. Agiro: State of Nebraska
Wei-Chiao Huang: Western Michigan University

Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 2020, vol. 41, issue 1, No 9, 140-157

Abstract: Abstract This paper investigated the effect of maternal employment on childhood overweight in the United States using a sample of school-age children. We used data from the spring 2013 cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011 (ECLS-K: 2011). We estimated a recursive bivariate probit model using exogenous variation in the youngest sibling’s eligibility for kindergarten as an instrument for maternal employment. As a robustness check, instrumental variable regression using 2SLS estimation technique and IV probit regression were also used. The findings suggest that the effect of maternal employment on child overweight is not significant. The results showed that rather than maternal employment, socioeconomic status, schooling environment, life style behaviors including physical exercise and sedentary behavior were significant factors contributing to child overweight. More specifically, higher socioeconomic status and doing physical exercise more frequently were negatively related to child overweight, while sedentary behavior and free/reduced price school meals were positively related to child overweight.

Keywords: Child overweight; Maternal employment; Socioeconomic status; Life-style behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1007/s10834-019-09658-8

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