Maternal Work Intensity and Childhood Health: Heterogeneity Over Stages of Child Development 

(Job Market Paper)

The labor force participation of working mothers has increased dramatically over the last six decades. This study is motivated by this growing trend of mothers’ labor force participation and its potential impact on the health of upcoming generations. The paper examines the effect of maternal work intensity, measured by average annual hours worked, on child health. The empirical analysis is for both the entire childhood period, from birth to 17 years of age, and explores how the effect of maternal work intensity varies across different stages of child development. It employs the PSID’s intergenerational survey data and instrumental variable (IV) probit and ordered probit regression estimation techniques using state-level women’s labor force participation as an instrumental variable. The results show that maternal hours worked has a positive and significant effect on the likelihood of having a healthy childhood. The fixed effect estimation that accounts for the heterogeneity across stages of child development (infancy, early childhood, mid-childhood, and late childhood) shows that maternal hours worked has a negative and significant effect on childhood health for the first two stages (infancy and early childhood) of child development and a positive and significant effect for the late childhood period. 

Keywords: Maternal hours worked, Childhood health, IV, Probit, Ordered probit 

JEL Codes: J22, J13