Maternal work for earnings and childrens nutritional status in urban Guatemala

Abstract

The effects of earnings from work by mothers on their children's nutritional status were examined in urban Guatemala. Effects of the type of work, and age of the children, were analyzed for 121 children at age 1 (infants), 165 at age 2, and 133 at age 3. Working mothers were categorized by type of work into the following categories: domestic, formal and informal workers. The results indicated that infants of domestic workers weighted significantly less than those of non‐workers and that 2 year old children of formal and informal workers were significantly heavier in weight, controlling for confounding variables including economic level of the family, education of the mother, marital status, child care strategies, and duration of breastfeeding. Although breastfeeding was of shorter duration among the formal and informal working mothers compared with domestic workers and non‐workers, such short duration was not associated with lower nutritional status.

Key Words:

• Maternal employment
• nutritional status
• domestic workers
• formal and informal workers
• child care
• breastfeeding
• urban Guatemala