Advertisement

Maternal and Child Health Journal

, Volume 18, Issue 1, pp 200–208 | Cite as

Work–Family Balance After Childbirth: The Association Between Employer-Offered Leave Characteristics and Maternity Leave Duration

  • Sylvia GuendelmanEmail author
  • Julia Goodman
  • Martin Kharrazi
  • Maureen Lahiff
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Early return to work after childbirth has been increasing among working mothers in the US. We assessed the relationship between access to employer-offered maternity leave (EOML) (both paid and unpaid) and uptake and duration of maternity leave following childbirth in a socio-economically diverse sample of full-time working women. We focus on California, a state that has long provided more generous maternity leave benefits than those offered by federal maternity leave policies through the State Disability Insurance program. The sample included 691 mothers who gave birth in Southern California in 2002–2003. Using weighted logistic regression, we examined the EOML-maternity leave duration relationship, controlling for whether the leave was paid, as well as other occupational, personality and health-related covariates. Compared with mothers who were offered more than 12 weeks of maternity leave, mothers with <6 weeks of EOML and those offered 6–12 weeks had five times higher odds of returning to work within 12 weeks; those offered no leave had six times higher odds of an early return. These relationships were similar after controlling for whether the leave was paid and after controlling for other occupational and health characteristics. Access to and duration of employer-offered maternity leave significantly determine timing of return to work following childbirth, potentially affecting work–family balance. Policy makers should recognize the pivotal role of employers in offering job security during and after maternity leave and consider widening the eligibility criteria of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Keywords

Maternity leave Employer offered leave Paid leave Financial strain Work–family policies 

Abbreviations

FMLA

Family and Medical Leave Act

SDI

California State Disability Insurance

EOML

Employer offered maternity leave

PTD

Preterm delivery

LBW

Low birth weight

OR

Odds ratio

CI

Confidence interval

PFL

Paid family leave

This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

Grant sponsor: Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Division of Research, Training and Education; Grant Number: R40MV00305-01. Grant sponsor: NIH; Grant Number: R24MH081797, “Socioeconomic and Neuro-Endocrine Determinants of Perinatal Complications.” Grant sponsor: NICHD; Grant Number: HD07275. We wish to thank Shayla Livingston for her help with the literature review.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

  1. 1.
    Johnson, T. (2008). Maternity leave and employment patterns of first-time mothers: 1961–2003. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    Laughlin, L. (2011). Maternity leave and employment patterns: 2006–2008. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993. (1993).Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Rossin, M. (2011). The effects of maternity leave on children’s birth and infant health outcomes in the United States. Journal of Health Economics, 30(2), 221–239. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2011.01.005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Han, W., Ruhm, C., Waldfogel, J., et al. (2008). The timing of mothers’ empoyment after childbirth. Monthly Labor Review, 131(6), 15–27.PubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Waldfogel, J. (2001). Family and medical leave: Evidence from the 2000 surveys. Monthly Labor Review, 124(9), 17–24.Google Scholar
  7. 7.
    Appelbaum, E., & Milkman, R. (2011). Leave that pay: Employer and worker experiences with paid family leave in California. Center for Economic and Policy Research.Google Scholar
  8. 8.
    Phillips, K. (2004). Getting time off: Access to leave among working parents. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.Google Scholar
  9. 9.
    Shriver, M. (2009). The Shriver report 2009: A woman’s nation changes everything Center for American Progress.Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Matos, K., & Galinsky, E. (2012). National study of employers.Google Scholar
  11. 11.
    Galtry, J., & Callister, P. (2005). Assessing the optimal length of parental leave for child and parental well-being. Journal of Family Issues, 26(2), 219–246. doi: 10.1177/0192513x04270344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Guendelman, S., Kosa, J. L., Pearl, M., et al. (2009). Juggling work and breastfeeding: Effects of maternity leave and occupational characteristics. Pediatrics, 123(1), e38–e46. doi: 10.1542/peds.2008-2244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Kimbro, R. (2006). On-the-job moms: Work and breastfeeding initiation and duration for a sample of low-income women. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 10(1), 19–26. doi: 10.1007/s10995-005-0058-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Schore, A. N. (2001). Effects of a secure attachment relationship on right brain development, affect regulation, and infant mental health. Infant Mental Health Journal, 22(1–2), 7–66. doi: 10.1002/1097-0355(200101/04)22:1<7:aid-imhj2>3.0.co;2-n.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Chatterji, P., & Markowitz, S. (2005). Does the length of maternity leave affect maternal health? Southern Economic Journal, 72(1), 16–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Gjerdingen, D. K., & Chaloner, K. M. (1994). The relationship of women’s postpartum mental health to employment, childbirth, and social support. The Journal of Family Practice, 38(5), 465–472.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Berger, L. M., Hill, J., & Waldfogel, J. (2005). Maternity leave, early maternal employment and child health and development in the US*. The Economic Journal, 115(501), F29–F47. doi: 10.1111/j.0013-0133.2005.00971.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. 18.
    Guendelman, S., Pearl, M., Graham, S., et al. (2006). Utilization of pay-in antenatal leave among working women in Southern California. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 10(1), 63–73. doi: 10.1007/s10995-005-0057-8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. 19.
    Guendelman, S., Pearl, M., Graham, S., et al. (2009). Maternity leave in the ninth month of pregnancy and birth outcomes among working women. Women’s Health Issues, 19(1), 30–37. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2008.07.007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. 20.
    Siegrist, J. (1996). Adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1(1), 27–41. doi: 10.1037/1076-8998.1.1.27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. 21.
    Siegrist, J., Starke, D., Chandola, T., et al. (2004). The measurement of effort–reward imbalance at work: European comparisons. Social Science and Medicine, 58(8), 1483–1499. doi: 10.1016/s0277-9536(03)00351-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    Joesch, J. M. (1997). Paid leave and the timing of women’s employment before and after birth. Journal of Marriage and Family, 59(4), 1008–1021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. 23.
    Schuster, M. A., Chung, P. J., Elliott, M. N., et al. (2009). Perceived effects of leave from work and the role of paid leave among parents of children with special health care needs. American Journal of Public Health, 99(4), 698–705. doi: 10.2105/ajph.2008.138313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. 24.
    Cao, D. (2011). Paid maternity leave benefits and postpartum return to work in the. USA: University of California at Berkeley.Google Scholar
  25. 25.
    Hofferth, S. L. (1996). Effects of public and private policies on working after childbirth. Work and Occupations, 23(4), 378–404. doi: 10.1177/0730888496023004004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. 26.
    Rossin-Slater, M., Ruhm, C. J., Waldfogel, J. (2011). The effects of California’s Paid Family Leave program on mothers’ leave-taking and subsequent labor market outcomes. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series. 2011; No. 17715.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sylvia Guendelman
    • 1
    Email author
  • Julia Goodman
    • 2
  • Martin Kharrazi
    • 3
  • Maureen Lahiff
    • 4
  1. 1.Maternal and Child Health Program, Division of Community Health and Human Development, School of Public HealthUniversity of CaliforniaBerkeleyUSA
  2. 2.Health Services and Policy Analysis Program, School of Public HealthUniversity of CaliforniaBerkeleyUSA
  3. 3.Genetic Disease Screening ProgramCalifornia Department of Public HealthRichmondUSA
  4. 4.Division of Biostatistics, School of Public HealthUniversity of CaliforniaBerkeleyUSA

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options