Work Hours, Schedules, and Insufficient Sleep Among Mothers and Their Young Children

Mothers in U.S. families continue to occupy the role of primary caregivers and managers of their children's time whether or not they work outside the home (Bianchi, 2000). As such, a large number of studies across a variety of populations have examined linkages among maternal work, family routines, and child devel- opment (Bianchi, Robinson, & Milkie, 2006; Goldberg, Prause, Lucas-Thompson, & Him- sel, 2008; National Research Council, 2003). A number of such studies have shown associa- tions between maternal employment, long hours, and nonstandard schedules and mothers' own reduced sleep hours (Bianchi, 2000; Bianchi, Wight, & Raley, 2005; Knutson, Van Cauter, Rathouz, DeLeire, & Lauderdale, 2010; Perrucci et al., 2007). However, we know little about how these dimensions of maternal employment cor- relate with children's sleep, whether the same factors that predict mothers' sleep also predict that of children, and how these dynamics oper- ate in more disadvantaged populations. The goal of this study was to address these issues.The intensity (i.e., number of hours) and timing (i.e., work schedule) of maternal work could influence children's sleep through a num- ber of mechanisms. First, as mothers work more hours, they have less time and energy available to monitor and enforce children's sleep. Moth- ers who work nonstandard shifts (i.e., evenings and nights) are often working when children are going to bed, asleep, or waking up. In addi- tion, long maternal work hours or nonstandard schedules may cause the mother stress or fatigue (Perrucci et al" 2007). Such stressors may influ- ence her effectiveness in managing sleep rou- tines and supervising bedtimes and wake times. Research has shown that greater parental warmth (a parenting construct that likely varies inversely with parental stress) predicts more hours of young children's weekday sleep (Adam, Snell, & Pendry, 2007). We know of no studies that have examined the associations between the intensity of parental work hours or work sched- ules and children's sleep. One related study of parental employment status and children's sleep showed that children in dual-worker families get 1 less hour of sleep per week and children in families headed by a single mother get 1.5 hours less sleep per week compared to children in fam- ilies in which mothers do not work outside the home (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001). It is unclear from this study, however, whether any maternal employment at all is associated with children's lesser sleep or whether this is true only at higher levels of maternal work intensity.Maternal employment experiences may also be linked to children's sleep if mothers adjust children's schedules to match their own work schedules or turn the enforcement of sleep practices over to others, resulting in inconsis- tent routines. As primary caregivers, mothers who start work early in the morning may have to wake children early to get them to child care. Conversely, mothers who work in the evenings may adjust children's bedtimes later to accommodate evening activities such as din- ner, children's homework, or simply spending time together. Stewart (2010) used time diary data from the American Time Use Survey to illustrate mothers' efforts at matching their parenting to their own work schedules, showing that mothers who work full time shift their enriching care time with young children to the evenings. This may have the unintended effect of curtailing children's sleep. Mothers who work long or nonstandard hours may also rely on other caregivers to put children to bed or wake them in the morning, which could result in inconsistent sleep habits. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents maintain specific routines to facilitate children's sleep (Cohen, 1999). Furthermore, maintain- ing a sleep schedule helps children develop a capacity for self-regulation, which could benefit children's sleep quality (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000). …