Maternal employment and childhood obesity: A European perspectiveShow others and affiliations
2013 (English)In: Journal of Health Economics, ISSN 0167-6296, E-ISSN 1879-1646, Vol. 32, no 4, p. 728-742Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The substantial increase in female employment rates in Europe over the past two decades has often been linked in political and public rhetoric to negative effects on child development, including obesity. We analyse this association between maternal employment and childhood obesity using rich objective reports of various anthropometric and other measures of fatness from the IDEFICS study of children aged 2-9 in 16 regions of eight European countries. Based on such data as accelerometer measures and information from nutritional diaries, we also investigate the effects of maternal employment on obesity's main drivers: calorie intake and physical activity. Our analysis provides little evidence for any association between maternal employment and childhood obesity, diet or physical activity. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2013. Vol. 32, no 4, p. 728-742
Keywords [en]
Maternal employment, Children, Obesity, Europe
National Category
Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:his:diva-14451DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.04.003ISI: 000321729800006PubMedID: 23721884Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84878350147OAI: oai:DiVA.org:his-14451DiVA, id: diva2:1157784
2017-11-162017-11-162025-02-21Bibliographically approved