Chi Fang Wu

Sleep, but not other daily routines, mediates the association between maternal employment and BMI for preschool children

BACKGROUND It has been established that the more time mothers spend working outside of the home, the more likely their preschool-aged children are to be overweight. However, the mechanisms explaining this relationship are not well understood. Our objective was to explore child sleep, dietary habits, TV time, and family mealtime routines as mediators of the relationship between maternal employment status (full-time, part-time, and no or minimal employment) and child body mass index (BMI) percentile. METHODS Data were drawn from waves 1 and 2 of STRONG Kids, a prospective panel study examining childhood obesity among parent-preschooler dyads (n = 247). Mothers reported their own work hours, their childs hours of nighttime sleep, dietary habits, TV time, and mealtime routines. Trained staff measured child height and weight. RESULTS Compared to working 0-19 h/week, both full-time (>35 h/week) and part-time (20-34 h/week) employment predicted higher child BMI percentile 1 year later. Hours of child nighttime sleep partially mediated the association between maternal full-time employment and child BMI percentile. Adjusting for individual and family characteristics, children whose mothers were employed full time were less likely to sleep longer hours than children whose mothers were employed 0-19 h/week (b = -0.49, p < 0.04). Shorter child nighttime sleep was associated with higher BMI percentile (b = -7.31, p < 0.001). None of the other mediation pathways tested were significant. CONCLUSIONS These findings add to the growing literature on the importance of adequate sleep for young childrens health.

Employment Hardships and Single Mothers’ Self-Rated Health: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics

Using a national sample of single mothers from the 2007 and 2009 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study examined the effects of multiple employment statuses on the selfrated health of single mothers during the recent economic recession. Unlike other studies, the current study minimized selection bias by controlling for prior self-rated health, in addition to other predisposing factors, enabling factors, and need factors. We found that underemployment, but not unemployment, is associated with lower levels of self-rated health of single mothers. Results further indicate that the 25–39 age range (compared to the 18–24 age range), lower family income, prior lower self-rated health, more chronic diseases, and binge drinking place single mothers at an increased risk of lower levels of self-rated health. In contrast, strength-building physical activity is significantly associated with higher levels of self-rated health. Implications for health care policy and social work practice are drawn from the results.

Employment Hardships and Health Insurance Coverage in Single-Mother Families During and After the Great Recession

The study reported here determined that a national sample of single mothers had no health care coverage for an average of 9.35 months during a 32-month period during and after the Great Recession that began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. Using comprehensively defined employment problems, it also found that adequately employed single mothers had the fewest months without health care coverage (M = 4.36), which more than doubled for those who experienced unemployment or involuntary gaps in employment, and tripled for those who experienced underemployment. The multivariate results confirm that employment problems place single mothers at a high risk of lacking health insurance. Implications for health care policy are discussed.

The conditions and strategies for success of local currency movements

This study investigates the successful conditions and implementation strategies of local currency movements. Data for this study were collected using semi-structured interviews with six presidents or managers from five separate local currency agencies in the US, Canada, and the UK. Applying a grounded theory approach, this study finds that conditions associated with successful local currency movements include being located in less populated areas, in a small community with comparatively lower levels of household income, and in a community with prior experience with alternative economic movements. Successful implementation strategies include organizational strategies for seeking seed funding and merchant engagement, operational logistics, and communication and marketing skills. Additional leadership strategies comprise leaders’ previous experiences with community projects and their commitment to the community, employing a full-time coordinator, and engaging a group of leaders. Conclusions suggest practical implications to groups that may want to initiate local currency movements in their own communities.

Does Lack of Health Insurance Mediate the Relationship Between Employment Hardships and Unmet Health Care Needs Among Single Mothers

Using data from a national sample of 451 single mothers collected 24 months during and after the Great Recession, this study tested four hypotheses related to comprehensive measures of employment problems, number of months without health insurance, and unmet medical or dental needs. The results indicate positive relationships between employment problems and unmet medical or dental needs, employment problems and lacking health insurance, and lacking health insurance and unmet medical or dental needs. Most important, lack of health care coverage significantly reduced the relationships between unemployment (by 26%) and underemployment (by 56%) and unmet medical or dental needs. These results indicate that lack of health insurance at least partially mediates the effects of employment problems on single mothers experiencing an unmet medical or dental need. The findings have implications for these mothers’ medical and dental care access, which are discussed within the context of the recent health care reforms.

Social work and engineering: Lessons from a water filtration project in Guatemala:

International service learning (ISL) programs seek to facilitate community inclusion, but such participation can prove elusive. For technical projects, such ventures can undermine local leadership, generate mistrust in communities, and even create an aversion to technological solutions. In this article, we document how social work and engineering students collaborated to bring clean water to rural Guatemala, and demonstrate how we employed social work principles to address the myriad issues encountered in the project. We contend that the inclusion of a social work perspective, with its emphasis on relationships, can help mitigate some of the challenges ISL projects tend to encounter.