Parental Work Schedules and Children's Cognitive Trajectories

Previous work has shown an association between mothers' nonstandard work schedules and children's well-being. We built on this research by examining the relationship between parental shift work and children's reading and math trajectories from age 5/6 to 13/14. Using data (N=7,105) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and growth curve modeling, we found that children's math and reading trajectories were related to parents' type of nonstandard shifts (i.e., evening, night, or variable). We found that having a mother who worked more years at a night shift was associated with lower reading scores, having a mother work more years at evening or night shifts was associated with reduced math trajectories, and having a father work more years at an evening shift was associated with reduced math scores. Mediation tests suggest that eating meals together, parental knowledge about children's whereabouts, and certain after-school activities might help explain these results.