TY - JOUR
T1 - Maternal precarious employment and child overweight/obesity in the United States
AU - Zhuang, Castiel Chen
AU - Jones-Smith, Jessica C.
AU - Andrea, Sarah B.
AU - Hajat, Anjum
AU - Oddo, Vanessa M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2023/4
Y1 - 2023/4
N2 - Precarious employment has increased in the United States and is now recognized as an important social determinant of health. Women are disproportionately employed in precarious jobs and are largely responsible for caretaking, which could deleteriously affect child weight. We utilized data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth adult and child cohorts (1996–2016; N = 4453) and identified 13 survey indicators to operationalize 7 dimensions of precarious employment (score range: 0–7, 7 indicating the most precarious): material rewards, working-time arrangements, stability, workers' rights, collective organization, interpersonal relations, and training. We estimated the association between maternal precarious employment and incident child overweight/obesity (BMI ≥85th percentile) using adjusted Poisson models. Between 1996 and 2016, the average age-adjusted precarious employment score among mothers was 3.7 (Standard Error [SE] = 0.02) and the average prevalence of children with overweight/obesity was 26.2% (SE = 0.5%). Higher maternal precarious employment was associated with a 10% higher incidence of children having overweight/obesity (Confidence Interval: 1.05, 1.14). A higher incidence of childhood overweight/obesity may have important implications at the population-level, due to the long-term health consequences of child obesity into adulthood. Policies to reduce employment precariousness should be considered and monitored for impacts on childhood obesity.
AB - Precarious employment has increased in the United States and is now recognized as an important social determinant of health. Women are disproportionately employed in precarious jobs and are largely responsible for caretaking, which could deleteriously affect child weight. We utilized data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth adult and child cohorts (1996–2016; N = 4453) and identified 13 survey indicators to operationalize 7 dimensions of precarious employment (score range: 0–7, 7 indicating the most precarious): material rewards, working-time arrangements, stability, workers' rights, collective organization, interpersonal relations, and training. We estimated the association between maternal precarious employment and incident child overweight/obesity (BMI ≥85th percentile) using adjusted Poisson models. Between 1996 and 2016, the average age-adjusted precarious employment score among mothers was 3.7 (Standard Error [SE] = 0.02) and the average prevalence of children with overweight/obesity was 26.2% (SE = 0.5%). Higher maternal precarious employment was associated with a 10% higher incidence of children having overweight/obesity (Confidence Interval: 1.05, 1.14). A higher incidence of childhood overweight/obesity may have important implications at the population-level, due to the long-term health consequences of child obesity into adulthood. Policies to reduce employment precariousness should be considered and monitored for impacts on childhood obesity.
KW - Body mass index
KW - Employment quality
KW - National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
KW - Social determinants of health
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107471
DO - 10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107471
M3 - Article
C2 - 36870570
AN - SCOPUS:85149483835
SN - 0091-7435
VL - 169
JO - Preventive medicine
JF - Preventive medicine
M1 - 107471
ER -