A population study of 5 to 15 year olds: full time maternal employment not associated with high BMI. The importance of screen-based activity, reading for pleasure and sleep duration in children's BMI

To describe the relationship between maternalfull time employment and health-related and demographicvariables associated with children aged 5–15 years, and thefactors associated with child overweight/obesity. Data froma chronic disease and risk factor surveillance system werelimited to children aged 5–15 years whose mothersresponded on their behalf (n = 641). Univariate/multivariateanalyses described the differences between motherswho did and did not work full time. The same data wereanalysed comparing children who are overweight/obeseagainst those with a normal BMI. The children of motherswho worked full time are more likely to be older, live in ahousehold with a higher household income, be an onlychild or have one sibling or other child in the household,have a sole mother family structure and not spend any timereading for pleasure. No relationship was found betweenmaternal employment and BMI. Compared with childrenof normal weight, those who were overweight/obese weremore likely to spend no time studying, spend more than 2 hper day in screen-based activity and sleep less than 10 hper night. Child BMI status was not related to maternalemployment. Although this analysis included eight dietrelated variables none proved to be significant in the finalmodels.This study has shown that mothers’ working statusis not related to children’s BMI. The relationship betweenoverweight/obesity of children and high levels of screenbasedactivity, low levels of studying, and short sleepduration suggests a need for better knowledge and understandingof sedentary behaviours of children.Anne W. Taylor, Helen Winefield, Lisa Kettler, Rachel Roberts and Tiffany K. Gil