| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 衛生政策與管理研究所 === 92 === This study was conducted to improve understanding of the influence parental working time has on overweight and obesity among school children. Secondary data analysis was performed on selected variables with respect to fifth graders and their parents from a database constructed in 2002 by a research project entitled “Child and Adolescent Behavior in Long-term Evolution—A School-based Health Lifestyle Study”(abbreviated as CABLE). The sample population consisted of school children and their parents from a total of 1,857 families. Findings from this study show that the proportion of overweight children in the sample was 11.5% (11.8% for boys and 10.5% for girls), and the proportion of obese children was 3.4% (4% for boys and 2.8% for girls). The standardized estimates of the proportions of overweight children based on the types of schools and the genders of the children were 13.2% and 10.1% for boys and girls respectively in Taipei City, and the corresponding estimates with respect to obesity were 4.3% and 2.9%. The standardized estimates of the proportions of overweight children were 11.6% and 11.1% for boys and girls respectively in Hsin-Chu County; the corresponding estimates with respect to obesity were 5.6% and 2.8%. Furthermore, in regard to the relationship between parental working time and children’s overweight and obesity, “maternal working time” was the only factor showing a substantial effect, with an influence on “children’s overweight.” Compared to children with mothers working for 40 to 42 hours a week, those with mothers working for 50 hours or longer a week had an odds ratio of 2.46 for being overweight. This study also found that the longer a mother worked, the less likely she was to interact with or provide support to family members. Based on these research findings, this study proposes the following suggestions. First, education and health agencies should pay increased attention to overweight and obesity among elementary school children, and take action to prevent such problems. Second, social welfare organizations and schools should provide assistance and education to school children’s mothers who have to work overtime so that their child care skills may be further developed. It is also worthwhile to more deeply explore the mechanism through which maternal status of working overtime influences children’s overweight.
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