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Akko DP, Dettmers J. Parents' work demands on next day's cortisol awakening response - the moderating role of family-to-work conflict. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024; 167:107107. [PMID: 38935980 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Revised: 04/05/2024] [Accepted: 06/17/2024] [Indexed: 06/29/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Constant availability, overtime and feeling overwhelmed by work can impact employees' wellbeing and their biological stress responses. Especially working parents often struggle to balance the demands of their work and family life and were found to be distracted from their work due to family responsibilities. The Family-to-Work Conflict (FWC) indicates the extent to which participating in work is made difficult by family demands. Recent studies have found associations between FWC and biological outcomes such as the Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR), a measure of an individual's Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA)-axis activity. This diary study investigates the effect of parental work demands on next day's cortisol response as well as the moderating role of FWC and the mediating role of fatigue. METHODS Over the course of five consecutive days (from Monday to Friday), 168 observations were made on a total of 42 parents. Participants had at least one child and worked a minimum of 20 hours per week. Salivary cortisol samples were obtained immediately, 15 and 30 minutes after awakening each day. Work demands, FWC and fatigue were assessed using standardized questionnaires. Within-person effects were examined using multilevel modeling and mediation analyses. RESULTS Our results indicate that there are no main effects of work demands on next day's cortisol response. The multilevel analysis revealed that FWC predicts lower wakening cortisol levels and confirmed FWC as an increasing moderator between work demands and next day's HPA-axis activity. Further, work overload was found to increase fatigue, which in turn leads to higher CAR on the following day. This indicates that fatigue mediates the relationship between work demands and CAR. Our findings add to a growing body of research demonstrating further predictors for HPA-axis activity and emphasise the importance of considering family related demands when investigating biological outcomes for working parents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davin P Akko
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Hagen, Hagen, Germany.
| | - Jan Dettmers
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Hagen, Hagen, Germany
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Davis EP, Glynn LM. Annual Research Review: The power of predictability - patterns of signals in early life shape neurodevelopment and mental health trajectories. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2024; 65:508-534. [PMID: 38374811 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/21/2024]
Abstract
The global burden of early life adversity (ELA) is profound. The World Health Organization has estimated that ELA accounts for almost 30% of all psychiatric cases. Yet, our ability to identify which individuals exposed to ELA will develop mental illness remains poor and there is a critical need to identify underlying pathways and mechanisms. This review proposes unpredictability as an understudied aspect of ELA that is tractable and presents a conceptual model that includes biologically plausible mechanistic pathways by which unpredictability impacts the developing brain. The model is supported by a synthesis of published and new data illustrating the significant impacts of patterns of signals on child development. We begin with an overview of the existing unpredictability literature, which has focused primarily on longer patterns of unpredictability (e.g. years, months, and days). We then describe our work testing the impact of patterns of parental signals on a moment-to-moment timescale, providing evidence that patterns of these signals during sensitive windows of development influence neurocircuit formation across species and thus may be an evolutionarily conserved process that shapes the developing brain. Next, attention is drawn to emerging themes which provide a framework for future directions of research including the evaluation of functions, such as effortful control, that may be particularly vulnerable to unpredictability, sensitive periods, sex differences, cross-cultural investigations, addressing causality, and unpredictability as a pathway by which other forms of ELA impact development. Finally, we provide suggestions for prevention and intervention, including the introduction of a screening instrument for the identification of children exposed to unpredictable experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elysia Poggi Davis
- Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Laura M Glynn
- Department of Psychology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA
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Wang J. Mothers' Nonstandard Work Schedules and Children's Behavior Problems: Divergent Patterns by Maternal Education. RESEARCH IN SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND MOBILITY 2023; 84:100784. [PMID: 38105797 PMCID: PMC10723057 DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2023.100784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Increasing evidence has demonstrated that nonstandard work schedules are more prevalent among the less-educated population, and mothers' nonstandard work schedules have adverse influences on children's development. Yet, we have known relatively little about how such impacts differ across the educational distribution. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, random and fixed effects regression results revealed a general "pattern of disadvantage" in the sense that detrimental influences of mothers regularly working nonstandard schedules on children's behavior were concentrated among those born to mothers without high school education, a "truly disadvantaged" group in the contemporary United States. In addition, regular nonstandard schedules appeared to play a mixed role in the behavioral development of children who had college-educated mothers, depending on the specific type of nonstandard schedule. These findings suggest that children born to the least-educated mothers experience compounded disadvantages that may reinforce the intergenerational transmission of disadvantages and also illustrate that negative implications of nonstandard work schedules for child wellbeing may extend to the more advantaged group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Wang
- Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
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4
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The impact of paid sick leave mandates on Women's health. Soc Sci Med 2023; 323:115839. [PMID: 36989657 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023]
Abstract
The United States does not have a national program to provide job-protected paid leave to workers when they or a family member are ill or need to seek medical care. Many workers receive paid sick leave through their employers, but women, particularly parents, those without a college degree, and Latinas, are less likely than their counterparts to receive employer-provided paid sick leave (PSL). To address the shortfall in PSL coverage, several states and localities have passed laws mandating employers to provide PSL. I examine the impacts of three recent state-level paid sick leave policies on women's self-reported health using data from the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System. Using static and event-study difference-in-differences models, I find that PSL mandates decreased the proportion of women reporting fair or poor health by an average of 2.4 percentage points and reduced the number of days women reported their physical and mental health was not good by 0.68 days and 0.43 days in the past 30 days respectively. Effects were concentrated among parents, women without college degrees, and women of color. This study demonstrates that despite being a low-intensity policy, PSL improves women's health and well-being and that mandating workplace benefits may play a role in achieving health equity.
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Ananat EO, Daniels B, Fitz-Henley Ii J, Gassman-Pines A. Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Pandemic-Era Unemployment Insurance Access: Implications For Health And Well-Being. Health Aff (Millwood) 2022; 41:1598-1606. [PMID: 36343319 PMCID: PMC10353345 DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Research demonstrates that receiving unemployment insurance decreases mental health problems. But researchers have also found racial and ethnic disparities in unemployment insurance receipt resulting from differences in work history and location. We examined a population disproportionately affected by job loss and unemployment insurance exclusions, using a survey of service workers from a single city who were parents of young children and who overwhelmingly had eligible work histories. During the COVID-19 pandemic, workers not identifying as White non-Hispanic in our sample were more likely to get laid off than White workers. Among those who were laid off, these workers and White workers experienced similar increases in material and mental health difficulties and similar gains when they received unemployment insurance. However, these workers were less likely than White workers to receive unemployment insurance at all. These results indicate that unemployment insurance has unrealized potential to reduce material and health disparities. Policies should be implemented to make this coverage more effective and equitable through increased access.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Becca Daniels
- Becca Daniels, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
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Gassman-Pines A, Ananat EO, Fitz-Henley J, Leer J. Effect of daily school and care disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic on child behavior problems. Dev Psychol 2022; 58:1512-1527. [PMID: 35482617 PMCID: PMC9714139 DOI: 10.1037/dev0001373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected American families and children, including through the closure or change in the nature of their care and school settings. As the pandemic has persisted, many children remain in remote schooling and those attending in-person childcare or school have contended with unpredictable closures. This study investigated the frequency and consequences of disruptions to children's childcare and school arrangements during Fall 2020. The sample is parents who were hourly service-sector workers prior to the pandemic, had a young child between the ages of 3 and 8, and were at least partially responsible for their children's school and/or care in Fall 2020 (N = 676); half of the sample were non-Hispanic Black, 22% were Hispanic, and 18% are non-Hispanic White. Parents were asked to complete 30 days of daily surveys about whether their care and school arrangements went smoothly and as predicted that day, about their mood, parenting behaviors, and children's behavior. Results showed that daily disruptions to care and school were common, with families reporting a disruption on 24% of days. Families with children in exclusively remote schooling experienced more frequent disruption than families with children in in-person care or school. For all families, care or school disruptions were related to worse child behavior, more negative parental mood, and increased likelihood of losing temper and punishment. Within-family mediation suggests that parents' difficulties supporting children's learning, and to a lesser degree their mood and parenting behaviors, partially mediate effects of disruptions on child behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Jane Leer
- Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
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Nicholson N, Rhoades EA, Glade RE. Analysis of Health Disparities in the Screening and Diagnosis of Hearing Loss: Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Hearing Screening Follow-Up Survey. Am J Audiol 2022; 31:764-788. [PMID: 35613624 DOI: 10.1044/2022_aja-21-00014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to (a) provide introductory literature regarding cultural constructs, health disparities, and social determinants of health (SDoH); (b) summarize the literature regarding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Hearing Screening Follow-Up Survey (HSFS) data; (c) explore the CDC EHDI HSFS data regarding the contribution of maternal demographics to loss-to-follow-up/loss-to-documentation (LTF/D) between hearing screening and audiologic diagnosis for 2016, 2017, and 2018; and (d) examine these health disparities within the context of potential ethnoracial biases. METHOD This is a comprehensive narrative literature review of cultural constructs, hearing health disparities, and SDoH as they relate to the CDC EHDI HSFS data. We explore the maternal demographic data reported on the CDC EHDI website and report disparities for maternal age, education, ethnicity, and race for 2016, 2017, and 2018. We focus on LTF/D for screening and diagnosis within the context of racial and cultural bias. RESULTS A literature review demonstrates the increase in quality of the CDC EHDI HSFS data over the past 2 decades. LTF/D rates for hearing screening and audiologic diagnostic testing have improved from higher than 60% to current rates of less than 30%. Comparisons of diagnostic completion rates reported on the CDC website for the EHDI HSFS 2016, 2017, and 2018 data show trends for maternal age, education, and race, but not for ethnicity. Trends were defined as changes more than 10% for variables averaged over a 3-year period (2016-2018). CONCLUSIONS Although there have been significant improvements in LTF/D over the past 2 decades, there continue to be opportunities for further improvement. Beyond neonatal screening, delays continue to be reported in the diagnosis of young children with hearing loss. Notwithstanding the extraordinarily diverse families within the United States, the imperative is to minimize such delays so that all children with hearing loss can, at the very least, have auditory accessibility to spoken language by 3 months of age. Conscious awareness is essential before developing a potentially effective plan of action that might remediate the problem.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Rachel E. Glade
- Communication Science and Disorders, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
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Harknett K, Schneider D, Irwin V. Improving health and economic security by reducing work schedule uncertainty. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2107828118. [PMID: 34625472 PMCID: PMC8545454 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2107828118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Work schedules in the service sector are routinely unstable and unpredictable, and this unpredictability may have harmful effects on health and economic insecurity. However, because schedule unpredictability often coincides with low wages and other dimensions of poor job quality, the causal effects of unpredictable work schedules are uncertain. Seattle's Secure Scheduling ordinance, enacted in 2017, mandated greater schedule predictability, providing an opportunity to examine the causal relationship between work scheduling and worker health and economic security. We draw on pre- and postintervention survey data from workers in Seattle and comparison cities to estimate the impacts of this law using a difference-in-differences approach. We find that the law had positive impacts on workers' schedule predictability and stability and led to increases in workers' subjective well-being, sleep quality, and economic security. Using the Seattle law as an instrumental variable, we also estimate causal effects of schedule predictability on well-being outcomes. We show that uncertainty about work time has a substantial effect on workers' well-being, particularly their sleep quality and economic security.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen Harknett
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143;
| | - Daniel Schneider
- Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Véronique Irwin
- Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1980
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Steimle S, Gassman‐Pines A, Johnson AD, Hines CT, Ryan RM. Understanding patterns of food insecurity and family well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic using daily surveys. Child Dev 2021; 92:e781-e797. [PMID: 34435668 PMCID: PMC8653334 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
This paper investigates economic and psychological hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic among a diverse sample (61% Latinx; 16% White; 9% Black; 14% mixed/other race) of socioeconomically disadvantaged parents (90% mothers; mean age = 35 years) and their elementary school-aged children (ages 4-11; 49% female) in rural Pennsylvania (N = 272). Families participating in a local food assistance program reported on food insecurity (FI) and parent and child mood and behavior daily from January to May 2020. Longitudinal models revealed that FI, negative parent and child mood, and child misbehavior significantly increased when schools closed; only FI and parent depression later decreased. FI decreased most among those who received the local food assistance program; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program receipt uniquely predicted decreases in child FI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha Steimle
- Department of PsychologyGeorgetown UniversityWashingtonDistrict of ColumbiaUSA
| | | | - Anna D. Johnson
- Department of PsychologyGeorgetown UniversityWashingtonDistrict of ColumbiaUSA
| | - Caitlin T. Hines
- Department of PsychologyGeorgetown UniversityWashingtonDistrict of ColumbiaUSA
| | - Rebecca M. Ryan
- Department of PsychologyGeorgetown UniversityWashingtonDistrict of ColumbiaUSA
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Gassman-Pines A, Ananat EO, Fitz-Henley J. COVID-19 and Parent-Child Psychological Well-being. Pediatrics 2020; 146:e2020007294. [PMID: 32764151 PMCID: PMC7546085 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2020-007294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 268] [Impact Index Per Article: 67.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/30/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 has changed American society in ways that are difficult to capture in a timely manner. With this study, we take advantage of daily survey data collected before and after the crisis started to investigate the hypothesis that the crisis has worsened parents' and children's psychological well-being. We also examine the extent of crisis-related hardships and evaluate the hypothesis that the accumulation of hardships will be associated with parent and child psychological well-being. METHODS Daily survey data were collected between February 20 and April 27, 2020, from hourly service workers with a young child (aged 2-7) in a large US city (N = 8222 person-days from 645 individuals). A subsample completed a one-time survey about the effects of the crisis fielded between March 23 and April 26 (subsample n = 561). RESULTS Ordered probit models revealed that the frequency of parent-reported daily negative mood increased significantly since the start of the crisis. Many families have experienced hardships during the crisis, including job loss, income loss, caregiving burden, and illness. Both parents' and children's well-being in the postcrisis period was strongly associated with the number of crisis-related hardships that the family experienced. CONCLUSIONS Consistent with our hypotheses, in families that have experienced multiple hardships related to the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis, both parents' and children's mental health is worse. As the crisis continues to unfold, pediatricians should screen for mental health, with particular attention to children whose families are especially vulnerable to economic and disease aspects of the crisis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Gassman-Pines
- Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; and
| | | | - John Fitz-Henley
- Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; and
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