A new study by researchers at several major universities has concluded that the more single mothers work, the heavier their child becomes!
The research was sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and appeared in the journal Child Development.
Researchers at American University, Cornell University and the University of Chicago analyzed data on 900 school-aged children and found the cumulative time a child’s mother worked was associated with a small, but measurable increase in the child’s body mass index.
We’re sure this doesn’t hold true in all cases, but it makes sense to us on several levels. The more a child is alone, the more likely they are to sit around instead of remaining active. Also, the more hours a mother works, the less time she has to monitor her child’s diet and exercise.
Unfortunately, it’s a sad reality that in this economy single mothers have to work harder than ever to support their families, so we can’t expect this correlation to decrease until they are making enough money to spend more time with their children.
[Image via AP Images.]