Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 11, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 158-167

Maternal employment and overweight among Hispanic children of immigrants and children of natives (Article)

Baker E.* , Balistreri K.S. , Van Hook J.
  • a Department of Sociology, Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA 16802, United States
  • b Department of Sociology, Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, United States
  • c Department of Sociology, Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA 16802, United States

Abstract

This research examines the relationship between maternal employment and child overweight among fifth grade Hispanic and non-Hispanic white children. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten (ECLS-K) cohort fifth grade sample (N = 4,360) were analyzed. OLS regression models were estimated predicting percentile BMI as a function of maternal employment, ethnicity, parental nativity status, income, and the interactions of employment, ethnicity/nativity, and income. Among Hispanic children of immigrants, maternal employment is associated with lower percentile BMI and this association strengthens at higher levels of income. Among Hispanic children of natives and non-Hispanic whites, maternal employment is beneficial (i.e. associated with lower percentile BMI) among low-income children but detrimental among high-income children, but this pattern is significantly greater in strength for Hispanics than non-Hispanic whites. Thus, maternal employment is associated with worse health outcomes only in the case of Hispanic children of natives, and maternal employment is associated with the best outcomes for Hispanic children of mothers from high-income families. We speculate that among children of immigrants, maternal employment may signify and/or accelerate assimilation towards middle- or upper-class American values of healthy weight and body size. Diet, meal regularity and supervision, and childcare did not mediate the relationship between maternal employment and overweight. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007.

Author Keywords

Hispanic Maternal employment Immigrant Children overweight

Index Keywords

immigrant lifestyle Caucasian human Health Behavior child nutrition birthplace Overweight Women, Working Cohort Studies Mother-Child Relations obesity priority journal controlled study Maternal Behavior Child Nutritional Physiology Phenomena Hispanic Americans body size income social status Humans ethnic difference Hispanic male Emigrants and Immigrants female Socioeconomic Factors Mothers cultural factor Article employment status major clinical study body weight European Continental Ancestry Group ethnicity body mass Body Mass Index weight gain mother child relation child care Child

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-67349171102&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-007-9096-0&partnerID=40&md5=4e6b867cf772c38f616950b4198ae170

DOI: 10.1007/s10903-007-9096-0
ISSN: 15571912
Cited by: 19
Original Language: English