Shift work and child behavioral outcomes

Using a large, contemporary U.S. dataset, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement, this paper explores the relationship between maternal shift work and the behavioral outcomes of children aged 4 to 10. Special attention was given to subgroups of children (e.g., based on family type, family income, and mother's occupation and working hours) and the patterns of parental work schedules and work hours. Regression results suggest that maternal shift work may contribute to more behavioral problems. Of all children whose mothers worked non-day shifts, the strongest associations were found for children who lived in single-mother or low-income families, whose mothers worked in cashier or service occupations, and whose mothers worked non-day shifts full-time. Implications for future research are discussed.