Making it possible for mothers to work is a key objective of policies for lifting families out of poverty and improving their children’s prospects. But new findings drawn from the UK Millennium Cohort Study point to unforeseen consequences which seem to conspire against healthy lifestyles. 

Researchers led by Catherine Law at the UK Institute of Child Health found that young children whose mothers worked full- or part-time were more likely to consume fizzy drinks, to sit in front of the TV or computer for more than two hours each day and to be driven to school. They were also less likely to eat enough fresh fruit and vegetables. 

One solution within current UK policy would be to provide mothers with flexible working hours. However, the study also found that children whose mothers took advantage of this type of arrangement did not display significantly healthier behavior. 

Previous research has shown that working mothers are more likely to have more obese children. Law’s team wanted to find out why. 

They looked at data on over 12,000 children from the Millennium Study, a representative sample of children born in the year 2000. Mothers were interviewed at home when their children were five-years-old about their work history and family health. The study also took into account other factors that affect child obesity, such as their mother’s education, whether they were from a single family and how many siblings they had. 

Around two thirds of the mothers had worked at some time; the average was 21 hours per week. 

Unhealthy, obesity-promoting behavior was also widespread and not confined to children with working mothers. Over a third snacked mainly on crisps and sweets and over 60% used the TV or computer for more than two hours a day. 

Reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Healththe study was confined to the UK. The London team are recommending a comparison with the Nordic countries, where there is greater access to child care and flexible work arrangements, and nearly three quarters of women with children under six are employed. 

“It would be helpful to understand how mothers balance home life and work and how time constraints may influence the types of food or opportunities for physical activity they can offer their children,” they write. 

They stress that their findings are not an argument for discouraging mothers from working, rather that they highlight the need for policies and programs to support parents in providing their children with healthy lifestyles. 

The broad rationale behind policies aimed at getting parents into work is that they will save money (on benefits) and promote the well-being of children (by increasing the family income). 

However, if getting mothers back into work, without other support, is behind the increase in obesity, the calculations break down: research by the World Bank estimates that obesity could potentially cost the global economy as much as malnutrition. 

See: Sherburne Hawkins S, Cole T J and Law C (2009), “Examining the relationship between maternal employment and health behaviours in 5-year-old British children,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, advance online content.