Employment Trends During Preschool Years Among Mothers of Term Singletons Born with Low Birth Weight

Children born at term with low birth weight (LBW) are regarded growth restricted and are at particular risk of adverse health outcomes requiring a high degree of parental participation in the day-to-day care. This study examined whether their increased risk of special health care needs compared to other children may influence mothers’ opportunities for participation in the labor market at different times after delivery. Data from 32,938 participants in the population-based Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study with singleton children born at term in 2004–2006 were linked to national registers in order to investigate the mothers’ employment status when their children were 1–3 years in 2007 and 4–6 years in 2010. Children weighing less than two standard deviations below the gender-specific mean were defined as LBW children. Although not significantly different from mothers of children in the normal weight range, mothers of LBW children had the overall highest level of non-employment when the children were 1–3 years. At child age 4–6 years on the other hand, LBW was associated with an increased risk of non-employment (RR 1.39: 95 % CI 1.11–1.75) also after adjustment for factors associated with employment in general. In accordance with employment trends in the general population, our findings show that while mothers of normal birth weight children re-enter the labor market as their children grow older, mothers of LBW children born at term participate to a lesser extent in paid employment and remain at levels similar to those of mothers with younger children. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited

Maternal Sick Leave Due to Psychiatric Disorders Following the Birth of a Child With Special Health Care Needs

Objective Child-related stress following the birth of a child with special health care needs (SHCN) can take a toll on parental health. This study examined how the risk of sick leave due to psychiatric disorders (PD) among mothers of children with SHCN compares with that of mothers of children without SHCN during early motherhood. Methods Responses from 58,532 mothers participating in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study were linked to national registries and monitored for physician-certified sick leave from the month of their child's first birthday until the month of their child's fourth birthday. Results As compared with mothers of children without SHCN, mothers of children with mild and moderate/severe care needs were at substantial risk of a long-term sick leave due to PD in general and due to depression more specifically. Conclusions Extensive childhood care needs are strongly associated with impaired mental health in maternal caregivers during early motherhoo

Maternal sick leave due to psychiatric disorders following the birth of a child with special health care needs

Objective: Child-related stress following the birth of a child with special health care needs (SHCN) can take a toll on parental health. This study examined how the risk of sick leave due to psychiatric disorders (PD) among mothers of children with SHCN compares with that of mothers of children without SHCN during early motherhood. Methods: Responses from 58,532 mothers participating in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study were linked to national registries and monitored for physician-certified sick leave from the month of their child's first birthday until the month of their child's fourth birthday. Results: As compared with mothers of children without SHCN, mothers of children with mild and moderate/severe care needs were at substantial risk of a long-term sick leave due to PD in general and due to depression more specifically.  Conclusions: Extensive childhood care needs are strongly associated with impaired mental health in maternal caregivers during early motherhoo

Transitions to disability and rehabilitation

The discrete choice model of McFadden (1973) is used to quantify the desire for going into rehabilitation or disability among fully employed married women in Norway. Predictions using the model indicate that as much as 60 percent of full-time employed married women going into disability or rehabilitation are not doing so entirely voluntarily. Using a set of identifying assumptions we decompose transitions into different components. Important findings are that decreasing unemployment has also played a significant role in increasing the number on disability and rehabilitation, while changes in disability benefits have not played a large role

Utviklingen i sykefraværet på 1990-tallet

Langtidssykemelding er en belastning for individer, bedrifter og det offentlige, både direkte og indirekte, ved at langtidssykemeldte ofte ender opp som uføretrygdede. Derfor har økningen i antall langtidssykemeldte store konsekvenser for offentlige budsjetter og arbeidslivet. I det følgende ser vi på utviklingen i sykefraværet de siste 15 årene, med spesiell vekt på 1990-tallet. Vi studerer om den observerte trenden kan skyldes endringer i befolkningens alderssammensetning eller næringsstruktur. Både endringer i befolkning og sysselsetting kan forklare noe av økningen i langtidssykemelding, og det er klare forskjeller i bruken av langtidssykemelding mellom kvinner og menn, blant forskjellige aldersgrupper og mellom næringer. Likevel finner vi at andelen som tar ut langtidssykemelding, har vært økende for nesten alle grupper. I tillegg ser det ut til at de sykemeldtes sykdomsprognoser slik de er vurdert av legene, er blitt dårligere

Utviklingen i sykefraværet på 1990-tallet

Langtidssykemelding er en belastning for individer, bedrifter og det offentlige, både direkte og indirekte, ved at langtidssykemeldte ofte ender opp som uføretrygdede. Derfor har økningen i antall langtidssykemeldte store konsekvenser for offentlige budsjetter og arbeidslivet. I det følgende ser vi på utviklingen i sykefraværet de siste 15 årene, med spesiell vekt på 1990-tallet. Vi studerer om den observerte trenden kan skyldes endringer i befolkningens alderssammensetning eller næringsstruktur. Både endringer i befolkning og sysselsetting kan forklare noe av økningen i langtidssykemelding, og det er klare forskjeller i bruken av langtidssykemelding mellom kvinner og menn, blant forskjellige aldersgrupper og mellom næringer. Likevel finner vi at andelen som tar ut langtidssykemelding, har vært økende for nesten alle grupper. I tillegg ser det ut til at de sykemeldtes sykdomsprognoser slik de er vurdert av legene, er blitt dårligere

Transitions to disability and rehabilitation

The discrete choice model of McFadden (1973) is used to quantify the desire for going into rehabilitation or disability among fully employed married women in Norway. Predictions using the model indicate that as much as 60 percent of full-time employed married women going into disability or rehabilitation are not doing so entirely voluntarily. Using a set of identifying assumptions we decompose transitions into different components. Important findings are that decreasing unemployment has also played a significant role in increasing the number on disability and rehabilitation, while changes in disability benefits have not played a large role.Financial support from the Norwegian Research Council