The Effect of Maternal Employment on the Lifestyle of Pre-School Children

Abstract

  This study verified the hypothesis based on “multiple role hypothesis” in which mothers' commitment to their role at work as well as their role as parents drains their time and leads to an unhealthy effect on the sleep and eating habits of pre-school children. By issuing a questionnaire to 269 parents with pre-school children, we discovered the following. First, children whose mothers worked outside the home went to bed late and had fewer than 10 hours sleep per night. On the other hand, children whose mothers were homemakers went to bed early and slept longer. Second, the time that mothers returned home from work in the evening was a significant factor in late bedtimes for children which meant that they had less sleep. Third, for children whose fathers' came home from work early in the evening, it was easier to get the whole family together at mealtime. However, maternal as well as paternal employment were not significantly associated with eating habits and a balanced diet. Therefore, the multiple role hypothesis was partly supported. Taking into consideration the fact that maternal employment affects the lifestyle of children, gender equity in society and improvements in the work environment as well as parental education are required in order to improve the healthier behavior of children.