Longer Hours and Larger Waistlines? The Relationship between Work Hours and Obesity
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Charles Courtemanche
Additional work hours may lead to weight gain by decreasing exercise, causing substitution from meals prepared at home to fast food and pre-prepared processed food, or reducing sleep. Substitution toward unhealthy convenience foods could also influence the weight of one's spouse and children, while longer work hours for adults may further impact child weight by reducing parental supervision. I examine the effects of adult work hours on the body mass index (BMI) and obesity status of adults as well as the overweight status of children. Longer hours increase one's own BMI and probability of being obese, but have a smaller and statistically insignificant effect on these outcomes for one's spouse. Mothers', but not mother's spouse's, work hours affect children's probability of being overweight. My estimates imply that changes in labor force participation account for only 1.4% of the rise in adult obesity in recent decades, but a more substantial 10.4% of the growth in childhood overweight.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
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- Changes in Spousal Health Insurance Coverage and Female Labor Supply Decisions
- Longer Hours and Larger Waistlines? The Relationship between Work Hours and Obesity
- Health Insurance Demand and the Generosity of Benefits: Fixed Effects Estimates of the Price Elasticity
- The Effect of Smoking in Young Adulthood on Smoking Later in Life: Evidence based on the Vietnam Era Draft Lottery
- Why the Poor Get Fat: Weight Gain and Economic Insecurity
- On Inferring Demand for Health Care in the Presence of Anchoring and Selection Biases
- Comparing Health of People with Heart Disease in the United States and Canada
- The Effects of Adolescent Health on Educational Outcomes: Causal Evidence Using Genetic Lotteries between Siblings
Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- Changes in Spousal Health Insurance Coverage and Female Labor Supply Decisions
- Longer Hours and Larger Waistlines? The Relationship between Work Hours and Obesity
- Health Insurance Demand and the Generosity of Benefits: Fixed Effects Estimates of the Price Elasticity
- The Effect of Smoking in Young Adulthood on Smoking Later in Life: Evidence based on the Vietnam Era Draft Lottery
- Why the Poor Get Fat: Weight Gain and Economic Insecurity
- On Inferring Demand for Health Care in the Presence of Anchoring and Selection Biases
- Comparing Health of People with Heart Disease in the United States and Canada
- The Effects of Adolescent Health on Educational Outcomes: Causal Evidence Using Genetic Lotteries between Siblings
