Maternal employment and Mexican school-age children overweight in 2012: the importance of household features

Abstract

Background: International evidence regarding the relationship between maternal employment and school-age children overweight and obesity show divergent results. In Mexico, this relationship has not been confirmed by national data sets analysis. Consequently, the objective of this article was to evaluate the role of the mothers’ participation in labor force related to excess body weight in Mexican school-age children (age 5-11 years). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 17,418 individuals from the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012, applying binomial logistic regression models. Results: After controlling for individual, maternal and contextual features, the mothers’ participation in the labor force was associated with children body composition. However, when the household features (living arrangements, household ethnicity, size, food security and socioeconomic status) were incorporated, maternal employment was no longer statistically significant. conclusions: Household features are crucial factors for understanding the overweight and obesity prevalence levels in Mexican school-age children, despite the mother having a paid job.