A first look at parental work schedules and children’s well-being in contemporary China

ABSTRACT

This article examines the association between parental work schedules and children’s well-being using a 2014 sample of first-graders in Shanghai, China (N = 2282), a society undergoing rapid economic and social changes. Approximately one-third of the sampled parents worked nonstandard hours in 2014. Propensity score matching analysis results show that children whose fathers worked evening and night schedules had worse internalizing behavior than those whose fathers worked a at standard daytime schedule. In addition, children whose fathers worked nights or irregular schedules displayed poorer academic performance than their peers whose fathers worked a standard daytime schedule. Maternal nonstandard work schedules were associated with worse academic performance but better behavioral outcomes. These associations were particularly pronounced for families with rural residential status and families in the bottom-third of the income distribution.

RESUMEN

Este artículo examina la asociación entre la programas de trabajo paternales y el bienestar de los niños mediante un 2014 muestra de primer grado en Shanghai, China (n = 2282), una sociedad sujeta a rápidos cambios económicos y sociales. Aproximadamente un tercio de las muestras de padres trabajaron horas no-estándar en 2014. El resultado de propensión que corresponde a resultados de análisis muestra que los niños cuyos padres trabajaron horarios de la tarde y de noche tenían el comportamiento peor que interioriza que aquellos cuyos padres trabajaron un en el horario de día estándar. Además, los niños cuyos padres han trabajado noches o horario irregular muestran peor rendimiento académico que sus compañeros cuyos padres trabajaban un estándar día calendario. Los horarios de trabajo no estándar de la madre se asociaron con un peor rendimiento académico pero mejores resultados conductuales. Estas asociaciones fueron especialmente pronunciados para las familias rurales la condición de residentes y familias en la parte inferior de la tercera parte de la distribución del ingreso.

KEYWORDS:

• Children’s well-being
• China
• externalizing behaviors
• internalizing behaviors
• parental nonstandard work schedules

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Bienestar de niños
• China
• Comportamientos de exteriorización
• La internalización de los comportamientos
• programas de trabajo no estándar paternales

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Wen-Jui Han, Professor and Director of PhD program at the Silver School of Social Work at New York University. Dr. Han also had held several positions including co-founding director of the NYU-ECNU Institute for Social Development at NYU Shanghai and co-founding director of global MSW program at NYU Shanghai. Dr. Han has a broad background in social policy research, with specific training and expertise in analyzing the well-being of children in general and in immigrant families in particular using large-scale national data sets and sophisticated research methodology. Her research interests are in the area of child care, parental employment, child and adolescent academic and health well-being, immigrants, and public policies. Dr. Han’s research work was widely published in disciplines including such as Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Demography, Public Health, and Social Work. Dr. Han received her PhD degree from Columbia University with concentration in social policy analysis.

ORCID

Wen-Jui Han http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2054-2275

Additional information

Funding

The author would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Silver School of Social Work at NYU and NYU-ECNU Institute for Social Development at NYU Shanghai. And this research would not be possible if not for school principals, teachers, parents, and children who have graciously shared their time with us as well as our hard-working research team.