More than one third of children worldwide are overweight or obese. This epidemic proportion makes obesity the most common chronic disease among children with short and long-term adverse effects on both affected children and society. This research examines the effect of the extensive and intensive margins of parental employment on children’s body mass index (BMI) z-score and likelihood of belonging to different weight status categories in Scotland. We also investigate some mechanisms driving the relationship. The results suggest that there is a positive association between maternal hours worked and child BMI or the probability that a child is overweight or obese. Our analysis of the channels shows that this is attributable to the less time children spend doing physical activity and the more time they watch TV, the more the parents work. The findings are useful for the design of policies whose goal is to improve children’s weight outcomes given parental employment.

全球超过三分之一的儿童超重或肥胖。这种流行病使肥胖成为儿童中最常见的慢性疾病，对受影响的儿童和社会都有短期和长期的不利影响。这项研究调查了父母就业的广泛和集约化对儿童体重指数（BMI）z得分以及属于苏格兰不同体重状态类别的可能性的影响。我们还研究了驱动这种关系的一些机制。结果表明，产妇工作时间与儿童BMI或儿童超重或肥胖的可能性之间存在正相关。我们对频道的分析表明，这归因于孩子花在体育锻炼上的时间越少，看电视的时间越多，父母的工作就越多。