Primary Submission Category: Health behaviors
Parenthood’s unequal toll: Inequities in cardiovascular risk factors by sociodemographic context
Authors: Whitney Wells, Fan Xia, Jacqueline Torres, Rita Hamad, Anusha Vable,
Presenting Author: Whitney Wells*
Background: For the 28 million parents of young children in the US, the demands of parenthood can increase time pressure and financial stress, prevent health maintenance, and potentially impact health into midlife. Health consequences related to parenthood likely vary by sociodemographic context, but evidence is limited.
Method: We used National Health Interview Survey 2000-2018 waves to examine the relationship between parenthood and cardiovascular disease risk factors: physical activity, alcohol use, smoking, sleep, and body mass index (n=151,765 parents, n=375,220 non-parents). We adjusted for sociodemographic factors, year, and region, and examined effect modification by sociodemographic factors.
Results: Parents (vs non-parents) had lower odds of being physically active (OR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.71), higher BMI (ꞵ: 0.14; 0.08, 0.20), and fewer hours of sleep per night (ꞵ: -0.19; -0.21, -0.18). Parents also had lower odds of being a current drinker (OR: 0.78; 0.77, 0.80) or current smoker (OR: 0.81; 0.79, 0.83). We found heterogeneity in all outcomes by sex, race, ethnicity, income, and relationship status (p-values for interaction <0.05). Stratified results showed pronounced differences by income (low-income parents had greater increase in BMI but smaller decrease in smoking and drinking) and race and ethnicity (BMI increase was greater among Hispanic, Asian, and Other race/ethnicity parents, decrease in drinking was greater among White and Asian parents, decrease in sleep was greatest among White parents).
Conclusion: While U.S. parents have lower use of alcohol and smoking, they also have worse physical activity, BMI, and sleep vs non-parents. Parents may feel increased pressure to reduce unhealthy behaviors, but may also face structural challenges in maintaining cardiovascular health, particularly low-income and minoritized parents. Family support policies to alleviate time and financial pressures may be crucial in supporting parents’ health.