Single working mothers are being blamed for childhood obesity
Single working mothers are to blame for the childhood obesity epidemic in the UK, according to a scientific study carried out by the University College London.
Kaspars Grinvalds | ShutterstockAccording to the study, which was recently published in the SSM - Population Healthjournal, obesity is the “most common chronic disease” of childhood, and the National Health Service (NHS) spent approximately £5.1 billion in 2014/15 on illnesses related to obesity.
To date, most studies have been based on data from the US and have produced inconclusive results. There is a paucity of scientific literature investigating the link between working mothers and increased childhood weight based on verifiable data in the UK.
The new study, which claims to be the first of its kind, aims to correct that imbalance and focuses on investigating whether “changes in maternal employment have contributed to increased childhood weight, and whether family structure plays a role.”
The study examines the correlation between maternal employment and childhood weight, using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), an on-going longitudinal study of 19,244 families born between the year 2000 and 2002.
Families were assessed when their children were 9 months old, then again at ages 3, 5, 7, 11, and 14. In the assessment, it was usually the mother who was interviewed on parental education, employment and income, family structure, family activities, parental mental health, and parental relationship status.
Statistics show that obesity rates have risen along with the number of working women with children and the number of single-parent households in the UK.
The study concludes that children with working mothers are more likely to have “increased sedentary behavior and poorer dietary habits,” proving a “positive relationship between maternal employment and children’s BMI.”
The study also shows that single mothers had lower levels of education and household income, and display higher levels of depressive symptoms, especially in unemployed mothers.
Children whose mothers are unemployed or work part-time were approximately five percentage points more likely to watch TV for over three hours a day, with children of women working full-time seeing figures increase to around 14 percentage points. Children of women in part- and full-time employment were 11 and 21 percentage points less likely to eat a regular breakfast respectively when compared to unemployed mothers.
The results showing that BMI increased with a mother’s working hours were more obvious in single mothers working full-time, with patterns less obvious but still present in women who worked but also lived with a partner.
Women were defined as “working” if they had been in work in the previous week, with part-time employment ranging from one to 34 hours a week, and full-time employment starting from 35 hours per week. Mothers were classified as “single” if they were the only parent living in the household.
Paternal employment produced different results, with the authors stating that “we find no relationship between paternal employment and children’s sedentary and healthy eating behaviors.”
The study explains that the average hours a single father works are lower than the amount a single mother works, suggesting that fathers are able to spend more time with their child, and therefore are able to engage in increased physical activity and spend more time preparing meals.
However, due to the “vast majority” of fathers included in the cohort being in employment, the “variation in paternal labor supply is more limited, making identification of effects more challenging.”
Interestingly, having grandparents in the house actually led to reduced BMI, with children less likely to be sedentary and more likely to have regular breakfasts if grandparents were present.
Fitzsimon’s paper states that the “main channels associated with higher weight” are mothers spending less time on housework, meal preparation, and child supervision, which adversely affects a child’s food intake and levels of physical activity.
Predictably, increased family income, which is more likely to arise from a two-parent household, has been found to lead to healthier overall lifestyles and consequent healthier weights in a study based on the analysis of the Australian National Nutrition Survey, 1995.
The study states that single mothers had lower levels of education and household income, and display higher levels of depressive symptoms, especially in unemployed mothers.
However, there are a number of studies that have produced results contradicting this new study. Four studies that have found “no significant effects” and “little evidence of associations” between maternal employment and childhood obesity are cited in the study.
The University College London study does admit that “household unobserved characteristics” that include genetic and environmental influences could also be affecting childhood weight, and it is not maternal employment alone that is contributing to childhood obesity.
“Mothers in employment are likely to be different from those not in employment. Such differences, rather than employment, could be influencing child outcomes,” the study explains in full.
This is a particularly important point to highlight as the study has come under intense criticism for “shaming mothers”.
The real-life practicalities of being a single mother and not working are not addressed. One interpretation of the results could suggest that the ideal situation for a single mother to challenge the correlation between higher working hours and higher levels of obesity would be to stay at home to increase a child’s chance of a healthy weight, a financially infeasible option.
Despite the backlash, it is important to note that the study does encourage that its results are “interpreted and transmitted cautiously.” It notes that the results showing maternal employment having more of an adverse effect on children’s BMI over paternal employment suggests “differing workload and childcare responsibilities between parents.”
It suggests that as more women are likely to join the workforce over time, the trend in increased maternal working hours and increased BMI will not change, so input from fathers to promote children’s overall health and wellbeing is fundamental in tackling the issue.
It also looks to schools to help to prevent childhood obesity, as pre-school childcare settings are popular avenues for parents to take. With children spending increased amounts of time at childcare facilities, the study says that promoting healthy behaviors early on will be “increasingly central.”
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