Comparative Study on the impact and modifiers of maternal employment and family composition on women and children's health in the UK and Japan

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K15851
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Hygiene and public health
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Baba Sachiko 大阪大学, 医学系研究科, 助教 (90532987)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 労働時間 / 長時間労働 / 養育行動 / 体罰 / 健康行動 / 喫煙 / 社会経済要因 / 家族構成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the comparison between Japan and UK mothers of infants, we found that more UK mothers smoked compared with Japanese mothers. We also found that mother's working hours tended to be associated with their smoking habits in both countries, but it did not reach statistical significance in UK.
We also examined factors associated with spanking their children at 3.5 years old, confined with Japan, but among families including fathers as well as mothers. We found that working hours was not associated with spanking. Rather, staying at home and unstable work (part-time employment, self-employment, and domestic side jobs) were associated with the higher likelihood of spanking. Presence of siblings was associated with the higher likelihood of spanking but a three-generation household was a protective factor.

Free Research Field

母子保健

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日英比較では、乳児をもつ母親において労働時間と喫煙の関連について同様の傾向を認めることが明らかになり、共通した予防戦略を検討することが可能と考えられた。日本においては、2020年に子どもへの体罰を禁止する法律が施行された。体罰使用の要因が明らかになったことで、体罰予防の重要な公衆衛生戦略の一助となる可能性が示唆された。