Weaving Work and Family: Implications for Mother and Child

描述（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福祉具有重要影响，但有关工作与家庭的文献仍然支离破碎。首先，没有进行研究，以了解妇女为平衡或编织其工作和家庭生活而使用的一系列战略。同样重要的是，研究往往侧重于兼顾工作和家庭对产妇福祉的影响，或者侧重于产妇就业对儿童的影响，方法是审查非父母照料的影响（即，幼儿园（儿童发展）。这一探索性/发展性项目的总体目标是更好地了解母亲编织战略或用于兼顾工作和家庭责任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，分配家务给伴侣，修改关系标准）按托儿安排分类; 2）描述编织战略的不同组成部分对妇女健康的具体方面的影响（例如，身体症状、抑郁症），以及它们对婴儿健康的影响（例如，中耳炎）和发展（例如，沟通）;以及3）确定预测产妇疾病较少的策略成分是否也预测婴儿的积极结果。这些目标将使用前瞻性的受试者内设计来实现，其中有225名生活在北卡罗来纳州福赛斯县的母婴对。将通过与所有新生儿分娩的当地医院合作，建立一个怀孕期间就业的新母亲样本框架。将从所建立的抽样框架中招募在婴儿4个月大时返回工作岗位的妇女，从而产生具有代表性的社区样本。当婴儿4、8、12和16个月大时，将由经过培训的访谈者收集妇女及其婴儿的数据。本研究将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编织工作和家庭，这些策略的稳定性如何？2)母亲的编织策略对她们的幸福和婴儿的健康和发育有什么影响？3)与改善产妇健康和福祉相关的战略是否也与改善婴儿健康和发育相关？这一项目的成果将有助于制定公共政策和保健干预措施，以保护重返工作岗位的妇女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.