Mothers' and Fathers' Work Hours, Child Gender, and Behavior in Middle Childhood

• Published in: Journal of marriage and family Vol. 75; no. 1; pp. 56 - 74
• Main Authors: Johnson, Sarah, Li, Jianghong, Kendall, Garth, Strazdins, Lyndall, Jacoby, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.2013; Wiley Subscription Services; Wiley
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; After School Programs; Behavior; Behavior Rating Scales; Check Lists; Child Behavior; Child care; Child psychology; Child Rearing; Child. Socialization; Childhood; Childrearing Practices; Children; Children & youth; Evidence; Family; Family Environment; Family Environments of Children and Adolescents; Fathers; Females; Gender; Heterosexuality; Males; Marriage; maternal employment; mental health; Meta Analysis; middle childhood; Mothers; Parent Child Relations; Parent Role; Parental discipline; parental investment/involvement; Parenting; Parents; Parents & parenting; paternal employment; Pregnancy; Psychopathology; School age children; Sex; Sexual Orientation; Sociology; Sociology of the family. Age groups; Studies; Work hours; Working Hours; Australia; Working time; Primary socialization; Well-being; Behaviour; Family environment; Gender; Parentality; Child; Boy
• ISSN: 0022-2445; 1741-3737
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.01030.x

This study examined the association between typical parental work hours (including nonemployed parents) and children's behavior in two-parent heterosexual families. Child behavior was measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at ages 5, 8, and 10 in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study (N = 4,201 child-year observations). Compared to those whose fathers worked fewer hours per week, children whose fathers worked 55 hours or more per week had significantly higher levels of externalizing behavior. This association was not explained by father — child time the during week, poorer family functioning, or overreactive parenting practice. Further, when stratifying the analysis by child gender, this association appeared to exist only in boys. Mothers' work hours were unrelated to children's behavioral problems. The role of parent and child gender in the relationships between parental work hours and children's behavioral problems. together with mediating factors, warrants further investigation.