Social Science & Medicine 59 (2004) 1517–1527
Around-the-clock: parent work schedules and children’s
well-being in a 24-h economy
Lyndall Strazdins*, Rosemary J. Korda, Lynette L-Y. Lim, Dorothy H. Broom,
Rennie M. D’Souza
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
Abstract
Family life in developed economies has undergone a fundamental change—shifting from single-breadwinner
households (typical of the post war decades) to families where both parents are employed. Equally dramatic has been
the emergence of around-the-clock economies, altering the way work is organised, especially working time. Many more
children now live in households where one or both parents work non-standard hours (evenings, nights or on weekends).
Are there any implications for children’s well-being when parents work non-standard schedules? There has been
virtually no investigation of how children are faring in these around-the-clock households, despite evidence that non-
standard work times affect family functioning and are stressful for parents. Using data from a representative sample of
4433 dual-earner Canadian familiesand their 2–11-year-old children (N children=6361), we compared familieswhere
both parents worked standard hours, with families where one or both worked non-standard times (evenings, nights or
weekends). In nearly three-quarters of the families one or both parents regularly worked non-standard times. We found
associations between children’s well-being and parent work schedules, with higher odds ratios for child difficulties when
parents worked non-standard times. These associations persisted after adjusting for several confounding factors
including socio-economic status, parent part-time or full-time work, and childcare use, and were evident whether
mothers, fathers or both parents worked non-standard times. The findings raise questions about the implications for
children of the 24-h economy.
r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Non-standard work hours; Child well-being; Work conditions; Social determinants of health
Introduction
Family life in developed economieshasundergone a
fundamental change—shifting from single-breadwinner
households (typical of the post-war decades) to families
where both parentsare employed. Equally dramatic has
been the emergence of around-the-clock economies,
altering the way work is organised, especially working
time. Many more children now live in households where
one or both parentswork at non-standard timesin the
evenings, nights or on weekends. These changes in the
labour market participation of parents, and in work
time, are reshaping the work-family interface. Little is
known, however, about the significance for children’s
livesof the specific timeswhen parentswork.
On the one hand, non-standard work times help some
parentscover child-care. On the other, many parents
face the task of orchestrating work schedules with each
other, and with their children’s schedules and needs.
Parent availability is constrained by work time and most
familieswill need to rely on other sourcesof care, which
are hard to access outside standard work hours or on
weekends. Alongside issues of sharing or organising
care, evidence shows that non-standard work times can
disrupt family routines and relationships, and are
ARTICLE IN PRESS
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +61-2-6125-2837; fax:+61-2-
6125-0740.
E-mail address: lyndall.strazdins@anu.edu.au
(L. Strazdins).
0277-9536/$ - see front matter r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.01.022