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Work-family Balance and Obesity: Evidence from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey
Current projections suggest that more than half of the U.S. population could be obese by 2030, making obesity a pressing, costly public health problem. Behavioral factors affect the incidence of obesity but economic, social, and work organizational factors also affect obesity. For example, factors affecting work-life balance in recent years might include the increasing number of workers working multiple jobs on difficult schedules, which might in turn affect worker stress and health. However, little is known about the potential effects on obesity. We hypothesized that work-family balanced workers would be less likely to be obese than other workers, and explored potential mechanisms through which work-family balance could affect obesity.
Data and Method
We used 2010 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data, including a supplement by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Our sample of 17,424 working adults represented 154.3 million workers. We classified respondents with BMI ≥ 30 as obese and scored work-family balance as positive if workers ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that it was easy to ‘combine work with family responsibilities.’ We used logistic regression to examine the association between work-family balance and obesity, controlling for sex, age, family size, race, education, smoking status, alcohol consumption, occupation, and geographic region. We explored potential mechanisms through which work-family balance might affect obesity, using information on reported physical activity, barriers to receiving medical care, and hours of sleep.
Preliminary Results
Workers in our sample had an average BMI of 27.3. More than 32% of them were obese and 83.6% were balanced positively. Descriptive analysis showed that 31.8% of balanced workers were obese compared to 33.9% of others. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the odds of being obese among balanced workers were 11.2% lower than among others and this result was statistically significant. With respect to potential mechanisms, more balanced workers exercised for 150 minutes per week (48% vs. 45%), fewer balanced workers did not receive medical care because of long waiting times (3.9% vs. 7.2 %) or schedule mismatch (3.2% vs. 6.2%), and more balanced workers reported sleeping 7 or more hours daily (38% vs. 31%).
Conclusion
Interventions that improve work-family balance might help to reduce obesity. Future research can assess the impact of work-family balance on children’s health and school performance, as well as potential differences in food consumption patterns and social activities among balanced and other workers.