Weaving Work and Family: Implications for Mother and Child

描述（由申请人提供）：尽管人们普遍认为，工作与家庭的“平衡行为”对妇女的健康及其家庭的福祉具有重要影响，但关于工作与家庭的文献仍然支离破碎。首先，没有进行研究来了解妇女用来平衡或编织工作和家庭生活的一系列策略。同样重要的是，研究往往集中于工作和家庭结合对产妇福利的影响，或者通过检查非父母照料（即日托）对儿童发展的影响，集中于产妇就业对儿童的影响。这一探索性/发展性项目的总体目标是更好地了解产妇编织战略或将工作和家庭责任结合起来的策略对母亲健康及其婴儿健康和发育的影响。这一目标将通过实现三个具体目标来实现：1)记录有婴儿的职业母亲使用的工作-家庭编织策略的行为和心理组成部分，并确定这些策略的具体组成部分（例如，将家务分配给伴侣，修改关系标准）是否通过儿童保育安排聚集；2)描述编织策略的不同组成部分对妇女健康的具体方面（例如，身体症状、抑郁）的影响，以及它们对婴儿健康（例如，中耳炎）和发育（例如，沟通）的影响；3)确定预测较少产妇疾病的策略成分是否也预测积极的婴儿结局。这些目标将通过对生活在北卡罗莱纳州福赛斯县的225对母婴进行前瞻性的受试者内设计来实现。将与所有新生儿都在当地医院分娩的地方医院合作，建立一个在怀孕期间就业的新母亲样本框架。在婴儿4个月大时重返工作岗位的妇女将从创建的样本框架中招募，并形成具有代表性的社区样本。在婴儿4个月、8个月、12个月和16个月时，由训练有素的采访者收集妇女及其婴儿的数据。使用线性混合效应模型进行分析，以回答三个基本问题：1)职业母亲使用什么策略来组织工作和家庭，这些策略有多稳定？2)母亲的编织策略对母亲的幸福感和婴儿的健康发育有何影响？3)与改善产妇健康和福祉有关的战略是否也与改善婴儿健康和发育有关？该项目的成果将有助于制定公共政策和保健干预措施，以保护妇女重返工作岗位时的健康及其婴儿的福祉。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite widespread agreement that the work-family "balancing act" has important implications for women's health and the well-being of their families, the work-family literature remains fragmented. First, research has not been undertaken to understand the array of strategies used by women to balance or weave their work and family lives. Equally important, research tends to focus on either the effects of combining work and family on maternal well-being or it focuses on the consequences of maternal employment on children by examining the effects of non-parental care (i.e., daycare) on child development. The overall goal of this exploratory/developmental project is to develop a better understanding of the consequences of maternal weaving strategies, or tactics used to integrate work and family responsibilities, on both mothers' health and their infants' health and development. This goal will be achieved by accomplishing three specific aims: 1) document the behavioral and psychological components of work-family weaving strategies used by working mothers of infants, and determine if specific components of these strategies (e.g., allocation of household tasks to partner, modifying standards for relationship) cluster by childcare arrangement; 2) delineate the effect of different components of weaving strategies on specific dimensions of women's health (e.g., physical symptoms, depression), as well as their effect on infant health (e.g., otitis media) and development (e.g., communication); and 3) identify if the strategy components predictive of less maternal illness are also predictive of positive infant outcomes. These aims will be accomplished using a prospective, within-subjects design with 225 mother-infant dyads living in Forsyth County, North Carolina. A sample frame of new mothers who were employed during pregnancy will be created by working with the local hospital through which all newborns are delivered. Women who return to work by the time their infants are 4 months of age will be recruited from the created sample frame and result in a representative community sample. Data from women and their infants will be collected by trained interviewers when infants are 4, 8, 12, and 16 months of age. Analyses, using linear mixed effects models, will be undertaken to answer three fundamental questions: 1) What strategies do working mothers use to weave work and family and how stable are these strategies? 2) What effect do mothers' weaving strategies have on their well-being and their infants' health and development? 3) Are strategies that are associated with better maternal health and well-being also associated with better infant health and development? The results of this project will be useful for developing public policies and health interventions to protect women's health as they return to work as well as their infants' well-being.