Career Women More Likely To Have Obese Children

Recent findings published in the journal Sleep Medicine show that mothers who work longer hours are more likely to have obese children. The study shows that their children are at an increased risk of sleep deprivation and an unhealthy diet that could increase the risk of obesity.

After analyzing the links between mothers' employment status and their children's weight over time, researchers also examined various additional factors, including children's diet, television habits and sleep patterns.

The study involved 247 mother-child pairs aged from three to five years old and measured the children's body mass index twice during the study-once at the beginning and then again 12 months later.

Findings revealed that about 17 percent of the preschoolers were overweight, while another 12 percent were obese just a year later. Furthermore, 66 percent of these mothers had full-time jobs, while another 18 percent had part-time jobs.

Many of the children with moms who worked more were more likely to get fewer than 30 hours of sleep per week, which contributed to higher BMIs. In fact, researchers noted that children who receive adequate rest could help to lower their BMI by as much 6.8 percent.

"We think that it might be the more hours that mothers are working, the less time they have, and there may be some sort of tradeoff going on, 'Do I spend quality time with my child or do we get to bed early?' And then in the morning, when mothers leave for work, their children also wake up early to get to day care," said said lead author Katherine E. Speirs, a postdoctoral research associate in human and community development at the University of Illinois, in a news release.

"There are lots of characteristics about mothers' employment that are really important to help us better understand the relationship between mothers' employment status and child obesity, such as whether women are working part time voluntarily or involuntarily, or scheduled or nonscheduled hours," concluded co-researcher Chi-Fang Wu, a professor of social work at the university. 

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