I hardly see my baby: challenges and highlights of being a New Zealand working mother of an infant

Figures & data

Table 1. Frequency of demographic characteristics of the working mothers (N = 2388) and the mothers who selected work as their biggest challenge.

Variables	Total N (%)	Work reported as the biggest challenge N (%)
Maternal characteristics
Age	N = 2371	N = 437
<24 years	261 (11%)	39 (21%)
25–29 years	603 (25%)	133 (22%)
30–34 years	842 (36%)	155 (18%)
34–39 years	554 (23%)	92 (17%)
40+ years	111 (5%)	18 (16%)
Ethnicity	N = 2362	N = 440
European	1412 (60%)	248 (18%)
Māori	266 (11%)	58 (22%)
Pacific	272 (12%)	48 (18%)
Asian	393 (17%)	74 (19%)
MELAA^a and Other	49 (2%)	12 (3%)
Education	N = 1845	N = 337
No secondary	354 (19%)	50 (14%)
Secondary education	387 (21%)	76 (20%)
Diploma/trade certificate	633 (34%)	123 (19%)
Bachelor's degree	279 (15%)	57 (20%)
Higher degrees	192 (10%)	31 (16%)
Child characteristics
Age when mother returned to work	N = 2028	N = 364
<2 months	567 (28%)	120 (33%)
3–5 months	898 (44%)	173 (48%)
6 months+	563 (28%)	71 (20%)
Parity	N = 2367	N = 436
First born	1039 (44%)	169 (16%)
Subsequent	1328 (56%)	267 (20%)
Age at interview	N = 2134	N = 437
23–36.9 weeks	320 (15%)	58 (18%)
37 weeks	606 (28%)	120 (20%)
38 weeks	408 (19%)	82 (20%)
39 weeks	290 (14%)	56 (19%)
40 weeks	346 (16%)	60 (17%)
41 weeks	164 (8%)	21 (13%)
42–87 weeks	237 (11%)	40 (17%)
Environmental support
Took paid parental leave	N = 1950	N = 382
Yes	1743 (89%)	338 (88%)
No	207 (11%)	44 (12%)
Paid parental leave length	N = 2372	N = 437
<2 months	1231 (52%)	224 (51%)
3 months +	1141 (48%)	213 (49%)
Total parental leave length	N = 1437	N = 259
<2 months	216 (15%)	44 (20%)
3–5 months	632 (15%)	138 (22%)
6 months+	589 (15%)	77 (13%)
Household income	N = 2157	N = 376
<$50,000	416 (19%)	56 (13%)
$50,000–$69,999	470 (22%)	90 (19%)
$70,000–$99,999	593 (27%)	113 (19%)
$100,000–$149,999	437 (20%)	94 (22%)
$150,000+	241 (11%)	53 (22%)
Household deprivation quintile index 2006	N = 2370	N = 436
1	431 (18%)	83 (19%)
2	479 (20%)	92 (19%)
3	423 (18%)	63 (15%)
4	517 (22%)	105 (20%)
5	520 (22%)	93 (18%)
Work characteristics
Number of hours worked	N = 2352	N = 435
<10 hours/week	392 (17%)	23 (6%)
10–19 hours/week	513 (22%)	53 (10%)
20–29 hours/week	389 (17%)	74 (19%)
30–39 hours/week	780 (33%)	198 (25%)
40+ hours/week	278 (12%)	87 (31%)
Type of worker	N = 2370	N = 503
Paid employee	1867 (79%)	411 (22%)
Other employee	503 (21%)	92 (18%)
Type of work schedule	N = 2334	N = 436
Regular daytime shift	1611 (69%)	307 (19%)
Regular night/evening shift	151 (6%)	26 (17%)
Other	572 (25%)	103 (18%)
Reasons for returning to work
1. Total parental leave ended	N = 2144	N = 399
Yes	400 (19%)	94 (24%)
No	1744 (81%)	305 (17%)
2. Paid parental leave ended	N = 2144	N = 399
Yes	501 (23%)	119 (24%)
No	1643 (77%)	280 (17%)
3 Employer wanted mother to return to work	N = 2144	N = 399
Yes	433 (20%)	83 (19%)
No	1711 (80%)	316 (18%)
4. Needed money	N = 2144	N = 399
Yes	1539 (72%)	312 (20%)
No	605 (28%)	87 (14%)
5. Enjoy working	N = 2144	N = 399
Yes	992 (46%)	168 (17%)
No	1152 (54%)	231 (20%)
6. Fear of jeopardising career	N = 2144	N = 399
Yes	362 (17%)	81 (22%)
No	1782 (83%)	318 (18%)
7. Wanted to leave the house	N = 2144	N = 399
Yes	401 (19%)	37 (9%)
No	1743 (81%)	362 (21%)
8. Missed company at work	N = 2144	N = 399
Yes	321 (15%)	40 (12%)
No	1823 (85%)	359 (20%)
9. Had arranged childcare	N = 2144	N = 399
Yes	257 (12%)	44 (17%)
No	1887 (88%)	355 (19%)
10. Self-employed/run family business	N = 2144	N = 399
Yes	90 (4%)	21 (23%)
No	2054 (96%)	378 (18%)

^aMELAA = Middle Eastern, Latin American or African.

Table 2. Means, standard deviations and ranges of demographic variables of the statistically significant predictors of 2388 mothers reporting work as the biggest challenge during the first nine months of their infants’ lives.

Variables	M	SD	Range
Maternal characteristics
Age (years)	31.19	5.25	16–47
Extroversion	3.46	.36	1.86–5
1^st quartile	2.89	.16
2^nd quartile	3.30	.11
3^rd quartile	3.57	.00
4^th quartile	4.25	2.93
Maternal involvement	3.21	.64	1–4
Child characteristics
Negative affect	4.29	1.07	2–8
1st quartile	2.98	.31
2nd quartile	3.78	.22
3rd quartile	4.60	.25
4th quartile	5.76	.54
Positive affect	6.20	.73	3–8
1st quartile	5.18	.50
2nd quartile	5.97	.12
3rd quartile	6.41	.15
4th quartile	7.45	1.54
Age of when mother returned to work (months)	5.42	2.15	1–14
Age at interview	38.72	3.86	23–87
Social support/stressors
Lack of family stress	28.18	6.69	8–40
1st quartile	19.45	4.11
2nd quartile	27.13	1.42
3rd quartile	31.45	1.08
Lack of family stress
4th quartile	36.29	1.81
Relationship environment	46.47	7.81	8–99
1st quartile	37.73	3.09
2nd quartile	44.13	1.41
3rd quartile	48.79	1.36
4th quartile	57.46	6.20
Partner involvement	2.32	.75	1–4
Environmental support/stressors
External support	34.75	5.17	14–54
1st quartile	29.14	3.06
2nd quartile	33.95	.82
3rd quartile	36.90	.79
4th quartile	41.56	2.65
Work characteristics
Paid parental leave length (months)	3.44	1.56	1–14
Total leave length (months)	6.29	2.54	1–18
Number of hours worked per week	27.71	14.27	1–90

Note: M = Mean, SD = Standard Deviation.

Table 3. Description of the single item predictors used in the current study and their period of administration.

Variables	Response options and manipulation	Time period
Maternal characteristics
Age	Age in years. Categorised into 5-year increments. All ages below 25 and above 40 were merged due to low cell numbers	Antenatal
Education	No secondary education, secondary education, diploma/trade certificate, bachelor’s degree, honour’s degree, master’s degree, PhD. Due to low cell numbers, categories above a bachelor’s degree were merged	Antenatal
Ethnicity	Categories that represented the mother’s main ethnic group: European, Maori, Pacific Islander, Asian, MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American or African) or other. Categories of MELAA and ‘other’ were excluded in the analysis due to low cell numbers	Antenatal
Current illness lasting at least 6 months	Yes or no	9 months
Current disability lasting at least 6 months	Yes or no	9 months
Child characteristics
Parity	First or subsequent child	Antenatal
Age at interview	Age in weeks. Categorised into 23–37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42–87	9 months
Gender	Female or male	9 months
Health at 9 months	Mothers described their baby’s current general health: excellent, very good, good, fair, poor. Categories were merged into either poor, or fair or better	9 months
Meeting mother’s expectations for social development	Not meeting, somewhat meeting, meeting, exceeding expectations. Former two categories were merged together	9 months
Meeting mother’s expectations for motor development	Not meeting, somewhat meeting, meeting, exceeding expectations. Former two categories were merged together	9 months
Meeting mother’s expectations for language development	Not meeting, somewhat meeting, meeting, exceeding expectations. Former two categories were merged together	9 months
Health or developmental problems	Yes or no	9 months
Age when mother returned to work	Months. Categorised into 0–2 months, 3–5 months, 6 months+ (inclusive)	9 months
Social support
Satisfaction with partner help	6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = not at all satisfied through to 6 = completely satisfied. Categorised into not satisfied (1,2,3) vs satisfied (4,5,6)	9 months
Satisfaction with family help	6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = not at all satisfied through to 6 = completely satisfied. Categorised into not satisfied (1,2,3) vs satisfied (4,5,6)	9 months
Number of adults in household (excluding mother)	Due to low cell numbers categorised into none or one other, vs two or more	9 months
Environmental support
Household income	Under $20,000, $20–29,999, $30–49,999, $50–69,999, $70–99,999, $100–149,999, over $150,000. Due to low cell numbers, lower categories were merged up to $50,000	9 months
Took paid parental leave	Yes or no	9 months
Paid parental leave length	Months. Categorised into 0–2 months, 3–5 months, 6 months+ (inclusive)	9 months
Work characteristics
Total leave length	Months. Categorised into 0–2 months, 3–5 months, 6 months+ (inclusive)	9 months
Actual vs anticipated leave length	Calculated from separate answers to total leave length and anticipated/preferred leave length. Categorised into under-met expectations, met expectations, exceeded expectations	Antenatal
Actual vs preferred leave length
Number of hours worked per week	Hours/week. Categorised into <l0, 10–19, 20–29, 30–39, 40+	9 months
Type of work schedule	Regular daytime shift, regular evening shift, regular night shift, rotating shift, split shift, on call, irregular schedule. Due to low cell numbers, responses were merged into three categories: regular daytime shift, regular evening/night shift, or other	9 months
Type of worker	Paid employee, self-employed and not employing others, employer of others in own business, working in family business or family farm. Categories merged into paid employee vs ‘other’	9 months
Reasons for returning to work	Responded yes or no to the following categories: total parental leave ended, paid parental leave ended, employer wanted me to return to work, needed money, enjoy working, feared jeopardising career, wanted to get out of the house, missed company at work, had arranged childcare by then, self-employed/run family business.	9 months

Table 4. Description of the multi-item predictors used in the current study and their period or administration and their reliability (Cronbach's alpha).

Variable names and descriptions	Scale/authors	Example item	Number of items/Likert ratio	α	Time period
Maternal characteristics
Extroversion: The degree that the mother has extroversion as a personality characteristic at the two-year interview	Big Five Inventory –John and Srivastava (1999)	I see myself as someone who: is talkative	8: 1 = disagree strongly; 2 = disagree a little; 3 = neither agree nor disagree; 4 = agree a little; 5 = agree strongly	.83	2 years
Agreeableness: The degree that the mother has agreeableness as a personality characteristic at the two-year interview	Big Five Inventory –John and Srivastava (1999)	… is helpful and unselfish with others	8: 1 = disagree strongly through to 5 = agree strongly	.94	2 years
Neuroticism: The degree that the mother has emotional negativity as a personality characteristic at the two-year interview	Big Five Inventory –John and Srivastava (1999)	… can be tense, anxious	8: 1 = disagree strongly through to 5 = agree strongly	.90	2 years
Conscientiousness: The degree that the mother is conscientious as part of her personality at the two-year interview	Big Five Inventory –John and Srivastava (1999)	… does things carefully and completely	9: 1 = disagree strongly through to 5 = agree strongly	.93	2 years
Openness to experience: The degree that the mother has openness to experience as a personality characteristic at the two-year interview	Big Five Inventory –John and Srivastava (1999)	… is original, comes up with new ideas	10: 1 = disagree strongly through to 5 = agree strongly	.93	2 years
Depression: Mother's current level of depressive symptoms	Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale – Cox et al. (1987)	In the past seven days, I have been so unhappy that I have been crying	10: 1 = no, never; 2 = only occasionally; 3 = yes, quite often; 4 = yes, most of the time	.75	9 months
Anxiety: Mother's current level of anxiety symptoms. Scores were divided into quartiles	GAD-7 – Spitzer et al. (2006)	Over the last two weeks, how often you have bothered by: Feeling nervous, anxious or on edge?	7: 1 = not at all; 2 = several days; 3 = more than half the days; 4 = nearly every day	.86	9 months
Maternal involvement: Mother's level of involvement with the day-to-day care of her baby	Scale created for a study at the McKenzie Centre at Victoria University of Wellington, with reference to Lamb (1995)	To what extent are you involved in the day-to-day care of your baby, for example feeding, holding, changing?	2: 1 = not much of the time; 2 = some of the time; 3 = most of the time; 4 = all of the time	.68	9 months
Parenting satisfaction: Mother's level of social and emotional adjustment to parenting a new baby and level of attachment with her baby	Parenting evaluation subscale of WPL-R –Pridham and Chang (1989)	How much have the tasks of taking care of a new baby been satisfying to you?	11: 1 = not at all through to 6 = completely	.83	9 months
Child characteristics
Non-verbal communication: Current frequency at which the mother's baby communicates non-verbally	First Communicative Gestures scale from the MacArthur Communication Development Inventory (CDI Advisory Board 1992/1993)	Does your baby blow kisses from a distance?	12: 1 = not yet; 2 = sometimes; 3 = often	.73	9 months
Motor development: Baby's attainment of fine and gross physical milestones	Scale created for the Growing up in New Zealand study	Does your baby stand up from a sitting position without help?	10: 1 = not yet through to 3 = often	.68	9 months
Verbal and symbolic communication: Current frequency at which the mother's baby comprehends language and communicates verbally and through emotion and eye contact	Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (CSBS, Wetherby and Prizant 2002)	Does your baby do things just to get you to laugh?	11: 1 = not yet through to 3 = often	.68	9 months
Positive affect: Mothers ratings of the extent to which their infant demonstrates traits similar to the personality factor of extroversion, such as having high activity level and vocal reactivity, showing pleasure and approaching new situations	The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Very Short Form – Peterson et al. (2017)	When tossed around playfully how often did the baby laugh?	14: 1 = does not apply; 2 = never; 3 = very rarely; 4 = less than half the time; 5 = about half the time; 6 = more than half the time; 7 = almost always; 8 = always	.74	9 months
Negative affect: Mothers ratings of the extent to which their infant demonstrates traits similar to the personality factor of neuroticism, such as displaying sadness, reactivity to falling and easily becoming frustrated	The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Very Short Form – Peterson et al. (2017)	When tired, how often did your baby show distress?	9: 1 = does not apply through to 8 = always	.80	9 months
Affiliation: Mothers ratings of the extent to which their infant shows pleasure in interacting with her	The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Very Short Form – Peterson et al. (2017)	When being held, in the last week, did your baby seem to enjoy HIM/HER self?	6: 1 = does not apply through to 8 = always	.70	9 months
Fear: Mothers ratings of the extent that their infant is fearful	The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Very Short Form – Peterson et al. (2017)	When introduced to an unfamiliar adult, how often did the baby cling to a parent?	3: 1 = does not apply through to 8 = always	.89	9 months
Orienting/regulatory capacity: Mothers ratings of the extent to which their infant demonstrates traits similar to the personality factor of conscientiousness, such as being cuddly, easily soothed and having a long attention span	The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Very Short Form – Peterson et al. (2017)	How often during the last week did the baby enjoy being read to?	5: 1 = does not apply through to 8 = always	.63	9 months
Social support
Family cohesion: Positive aspects of family climate	Items were selected from Olson (1985)	We feel very close to each other in our family/whanau	9: 1 = never; 2 = sometimes; 3 = usually; 4 = always	.86	Antenatal
Lack of family stress: This variable encapsulated questions surrounding the current levels of general stress for the mother's entire family which were then reverse coded	Scale created for the Growing up in New Zealand study, with reference to Abidin (1995)	In the time since 'baby' was born, to what extent are the following a source of stress for you and your family: Worry about family members not getting on?	8: 1 = not at all stressful; 2 = somewhat stressful; 3 = moderately stressful; 4 = highly stressful	.73	9 months
Social support: Mother's perceived level of support from family members, also factoring in reports of family stressors (reverse-coded)	Family Support Scale-Adapted interpersonal support items from Dunst et al. (1984) & Lack of Family Stress scale	How helpful do you generally find: Your friends? See above	6: 1 = not available; 2 = not at all helpful; 3 = sometimes helpful; 4 = generally helpful; 5 = very helpful; 6 = extremely helpful	Combined scales = .67	9 months
Relationship environment: Level of warmth, hostility, and verbal and physical conflict in the mother's relationship with her partner	Warmth and Hostility Scale – Melby et al. (unpublished coding manual) &	During the past four weeks, how often did you: … let each other know you really care about each other?	9: 1 = Never; 2 = Almost never; 3 = Not very often; 4 = Quite often; 5 = Very often; 6 = Extremely often; 7 = All the time	Combined scales = .74	9 months
	Physical Conflict Scale CFL Verbal conflict scale CFL – Pryor (2004)	… push and shove each other when arguing	6: 1 = Never through to 7 = All the time		9 months
Partner involvement: The level of involvement of the mother's current partner concerning the day-to-day care of the baby	Scale created for a study at the McKenzie Centre at Victoria University of Wellington, with reference to Lamb (1995)	How involved is your partner in the day-to-day care of your baby?	2: 1 = not much of the time; 2 = some of the time; 3 = most of the time; 4 = all of the time; 5 = not applicable. Grouped in the current study into 1(not much time or not applicable) and 2 (some, most or all of the time)	.85	9 months
Environmental support
External support: Mother's perceived level of support from external sources such as medical professionals or institutions and their sense of community belonging	Family Support Scale-Adapted external support items from Dunst et al. (1984) &	How helpful do you generally find: Your family doctor?	Originally 6 items, one item (helpfulness of daycare centre/Kohanga Reo/nanny) was excluded in order to increase internal reliability (from .58). 1 = not available through to 6 = extremely helpful	Combined scales = .63	9 months
	Community Support-Witten et al. (2003)	I make friends easily in my community?	6: 1 = strongly disagree through to 4 = strongly agree		9 months
Deprivation: Combination of nine socioeconomic variables from the 2006 census which capture eight small-area-level dimensions of deprivation	The New Zealand Deprivation Index –Salmond et al. (2007)	N/A	Original decile measure converted into quintiles. 1st quintile = households in the least deprived 20% of areas; 2nd quintile = households in the most deprived 20% of areas	N/A	9 months

Table 5. Final coding scheme developed for coding of highlights reported by mothers in the current study and the frequency of reporting by working mothers.

Highlight category	Description of category	Frequency (%)
Enjoyment of child	Pride in child, after trying for a long time able to have child or surprise child, baby creating fun, the child themselves – ‘the baby’, observation of smiling and laughing, spending time with baby	39.8
Child's development	Child's growth, reaching developmental milestones, eg saying mum, walking and talking, playing, developing a personality – becoming a person	29.2
Attributes of child	Characteristic of the child, eg pretty face, baby being full of life, small version of themselves, separate to being an easy baby, baby has a nice smile or a cute laugh, lovely, easy to care for (NOT new) –‘HIS laugh’, ‘all the smiles and laughs’	15.5
Positive effects on family	Identifying as a family, completing, balancing or extending the family, being a family, family celebrating holidays, being a proper family, family is enriched by baby	14.2
Sibling interaction	Positive effect on siblings, children interacting together, accepting the new baby	14.0
Mother-child bonding	Baby developing an attachment for mum, getting to know the baby, interacting with the baby in the context of strengthening the bond between mum and baby, ‘making her happy’, ‘loving her’ but not ‘spending time with baby’	7.8
Other	External good events, eg travel (not related to parenthood), general family related, good events related to other children, family members, extended family etc., ‘Happiness’	5.6
Personal growth	Developing/changing as a person, learning new skills, success in mothering role, fulfilment	5.0
Change to environment with positive impact	Lifestyle changes, moving to NZ, having time to spend with child, reduction of workload, better experience than with previous children, promotions, older child starting school, ‘Having a new baby in the house’	4.2
Child's health	Child's health and well-being, baby does not have any health concerns or has regained health/recovered from illness, separate to reaching developmental progress	4.1
Gender of child	Specific gender of child is considered to have positives, baby was the desired gender	3.6
Positive social impact of child	Baby has positive effects on people, seeing joy in other people because of baby, mother is making new friends or receiving family support through baby, company	3.2
Responsibility for child/mothering role	Providing for someone, caring for the baby, responsible for baby, providing for their upbringing	3.0
Identity	Being a mother/mum. Could also be a new identity, such as stay at home mum	3.0
Relationship with Partner	Positive effects on couple relationship, bringing the couple closer together	1.5
Cultural/religious events/celebrations	Christening of baby, cultural celebrations that focus on baby, mention of baby's involvement in significant cultural or religious events	0.3
Baby sleeping	Baby sleeping through the night	0.3
Breastfeeding success	Success in breastfeeding, being able to breastfeed, overcoming initial difficulties in breastfeeding	0.3

Table 6. Final coding scheme developed for coding of challenges reported by mothers in the current study and the percentage of working mothers reporting each category.

Challenge category	Description of category	Frequency (%)
Time management	Includes feeling a loss of routine, being busy. Needing to coordinate many things	24.1
Maternal role and responsibility	Feeling obligations about parenting, pressure to do it well. Includes learning how to parent, how to tell their baby's needs and the day-to-day caring for the baby	21.5
Work-related time issues/work-life balance	Any work challenge that is related to time management or maintaining work-life balance	14.8
Sleep deprivation	Not getting enough sleep. Feeling tired	14.5
Child's health	The child being sick or unwell, including through teething, or experiencing birth complications	7.6
Loss of autonomy	Loss of independence, lifestyle adjustment, such as unable to do things they could do before baby was born. Feeling ‘stuck at home’	6.2
Other	Challenges that do not fit into any other category	5.7
Lifestyle adjustment and change	Lifestyle change noted that is not related to a loss of autonomy – not judged as good or bad, adjusting to change is the challenge	5.4
Financial strain	Not having enough money, having fewer savings, not being able to do things or obtain things due to not having enough money	5.1
Identity change	This includes challenges in adjusting to new identity of mother and learning to become a mum. It includes changes to personality and priorities	4.9
Work – other	Any work challenge that is not related to a challenge with time management or maintaining work-life balance	4.9
Breastfeeding/feeding problems	Includes not being able to breastfeed, having difficulties breastfeeding, or any difficulties related to feeding the baby	4.6
Lack of partner/family/external support	Lack of support from family, extended family, friends or any other lack of external support	4.4
Change in couple dynamics	This refers to relationship strain due to having a baby, and includes any changes in the couple dynamic	3.4
General family adjustment	Adjustment in context of family, eg struggling to meet needs of wider family	3.4
Maternal physical health	Mother's physical health problems including labour complication or recovery time	3.0
Attributes of child/ difficult baby	Characteristics of child that are challenging, ‘difficult baby’, eg demanding, won't settle, hard to get to sleep	2.7
No challenges		2.3
Maternal mental health	Includes suffering from clinically significant mental health problems, increased stress, emotional problems, feelings of not coping, decreased mental well-being	1.7
External crisis or challenge	A challenge that has not been a result of the baby	1.7
Household chores	The amount of chores to do or dislike for household chores	1.7
Sibling adjustment	Difficulty in interaction between baby and other siblings; worrying over the baby's safety around the older children	1.1
Child's development	This includes child development delays, or any problems related to child's development	0.8
Filtering advice	Difficulty filtering or evaluating advice from external sources about parenting and child development	0.7
Cultural adjustment	Needing to adjust to a new culture whilst also raising a baby	0.3

Table 7. Binary multivariable logistic regression showing the statistically significant predictors of the likelihood of working mothers describing employment as the biggest challenge during the first nine months of their infants’ lives (N = 1918).

Variables	B (SE)	OR (CI–CI)	p value
Constant	−3.74 (0.48)		< . 001
Child characteristics
Subsequent born	.293 (.13)	1.34 (1.04–1.72)	. 022
Age when mother returned to work			< . 001
<3 months	Ref
3–5 months (inclusive)	−0.24 (0.17)	0.79 (0.57–1.09)	.150
6 months+	−0.7 (0.17)	0.50 (0.35–0.70)	< . 001
No health/developmental problems	0.81 (0.26)	2.26 (1.36–3.73)	. 020
Environmental support/stressors
Household income			. 023
<$50,000/year			Ref
$50,000–$69,999/year	0.46 (0.21)	1.58 (1.05–2.38)	. 029
$70,000–$99,999/year	0.40 (0.20)	1.49 (1.01–2.21)	. 047
$100,000–$149,999/year	0.63 (0.21)	1.88 (1.24–2.84)	. 003
$150,000+/year	0.71 (0.25)	2.03 (1.25–3.30)	. 004
Work characteristics
Number of hours worked			< . 001
<10 hours/week			Ref
10–19 hours/week	0.48 (0.29)	1.61 (0.91–2.86)	.100
20–29 hours/week	1.08 (0.29)	2.94 (1.68–5.15)	< . 001
30–39 hours/week	1.45 (0.27)	4.25 (2.52–7.16)	< . 001
40+ hours/week	1.62 (0.29)	5.04 (2.84–8.95)	< . 001
Reasons for returning to work
Fear of jeopardising career	0.4 (0.16)	1.49 (1.09–2.04)	. 010
Wanted to get out of the house	−0.62 (0.21)	0.54 (0.36–0.82)	< . 001
Missed company at work	−0.4 (0.22)	0.67 (0.44–1.03)	.070*

Notes: −2 log likelihood = 1692.90, R² = .094 (Cox & Snell), .15 (Nagelkerke), χ ²(25) = 188.33, p < .001. Statistically significant predictors at the .05 alpha level are printed in boldface. B = unstandardised regression coefficient, SE = Standard Error, OR = Odds Ratio, CI = Confidence Interval, REF = reference category. * This variable is statistically significant (β = −.61, SE = .20, OR = .53, p = .002) when entered in the model as the only reason for returning to work.

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