HHS HealthBeat (February 2, 2011)

Who gets up

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

When the kid’s crying at night, and Mom and Dad have to go to work the next day, who is more likely to get up to see what’s wrong?

Sarah Burgard of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research saw the answer in time-diary data from about 20,000 working parents from 2003 to 2007:

``Working moms were more than twice as likely to get up for the night shift of caregiving for dependent children in the household than working fathers were.’’ (8 seconds)

Burgard says this means moms are likely to be less rested. And she notes that less rest means more risk of accidents and some illnesses – as well as poorer decision-making, which could affect their careers.

The study in the journal Social Forces was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011