There is an established research base investigating the implications of nonstandard work schedules (working evening, nights, or weekends) on family life. Extant literature has given less attention to cumulative risks of nonstandard work schedules for families. We explored the associations between cumulative maternal nonstandard work schedules across early and middle childhood and children’s behavioral outcomes and maternal mental health at age 7 using the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Our analyses explore working multiple nonstandard work schedules cumulatively across childhood, relative to working a single nonstandard work schedule in isolation or only a standard schedule, as well as examining different types of nonstandard work schedules.
We found null associations between more waves of working nonstandard work schedules across childhood and child behavior. Although, children had lower externalizing scores (better behavior) when their mothers worked longer hours and more waves of nonstandard work schedules, when their mothers worked more waves of evening schedules, and when their mothers worked long hours and more waves of multiple types of nonstandard work schedules. Working more waves of nonstandard work schedules across early and middle childhood was related to worse mental health scores for mothers at age 7. Additionally, mothers’ mental health was worse when working more waves of different types of nonstandard work schedules in comparison to working a standard schedule.
Our next steps are to further uncover the descriptive differences between mothers who cumulatively work different types of nonstandard work schedules to understand why children fare better when their mothers work evening schedules.

Co-authors

Associate Professor Kelly Chandler, Oregon State University