Maternal employment and childhood obesity. Evidence from Uruguay

The rapid rise of childhood overweight and obesity in Latin America poses an urgent public health challenge and raises questions about the socioeconomic and behavioral determinants shaping children’s nutritional trajectories. While evidence from high-income countries suggests that increases in maternal employment may exacerbate childhood obesity through time constraints and altered caregiving routines, it remains unclear whether these mechanisms operate similarly in middle-income contexts. This study examines the association between past and current maternal employment and childhood obesity in Uruguay, a high-income Latin American country with high female labor force participation and broad access to public childcare. Using three waves of the longitudinal Encuesta de Nutrición, Desarrollo Infantil y Salud (ENDIS, 2012–2018), we analyze BMI outcomes for children followed from early childhood to primary school and assess four potential mediating pathways: eating patterns, sleep duration, screen exposure, and physical activity. Contrary to findings from most high-income countries, we find no systematic association between maternal employment (or work hours) and children’s BMI. However, among children in the top BMI quartile, full-time maternal employment during ages 0–3 is associated with a 0.30 SD increase in BMI, suggesting that early caregiving demands may heighten vulnerability for this subgroup. Maternal employment is not associated with significant changes in the four mediators examined. Nonetheless, adequate sleep and higher physical activity show modest protective associations with obesity risk. These findings underscore the importance of contextual factors—such as social norms, childcare availability, and socioeconomic conditions—in shaping the relationship between maternal labor supply and children’s nutritional health, and point to the need for universal rather than targeted policy responses in settings where childhood obesity is widespread across social strata. JEL Classification: D1, I1, I3, J23