Children of women who work part-time tend to be healthier than those with moms who work full-time or don't have jobs, say Australian researchers who looked at the lifestyle and weight of about 2,500 young children.
"The main finding that we have is that the children of mothers who worked part-time were healthier in their weight, and that was related to watching less television, snacking less and being more physically active," Jan Nicholson, of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, told Agence France Presse. "And that was compared to children whose mothers were in full-time employment and also those whose mothers were at home full time."
Children of mothers with part-time jobs watched about an hour less television per week than other children, the researchers found.
Nicholson said mothers with part-time jobs may be better able to balance work and family demands, AFP reported.
The study appears in the Journal of Social Science and Medicine.