What Happens When Parents Work In Non-Standard Schedules

It is important to work in regular shifts. In a scientific research brief from the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute, it is shown that those whose parents work in "non-standard and unpredictable schedules" may have "decreased cognitive and behavioral outcomes", according to washingtonpost 

The brief says that children whose mothers work in "non-standard hours", have worse "sensory perception, learning, problem solving, and verbal communication", even as 13- and 14-year-olds with parents working at night are "more likely to be depressed and to engage in risky behavior, such as smoking and drinking", than children whose parents are at home in the night.

The brief, titled "Parents' Non-Standard Work Schedules Make Adequate Childrearing Difficult: Reforming Labor Market Practices Can Improve Children's Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes," was written by Leila Morsy, a lecturer at the University of New South Wales (l.morsy@unsw.edu.au) and EPI research associate Richard Rothstein (rrothstein@epi.org).

Such erratic "non-standard" schedules tend to affect "black workers and less-educated workers, and also among mothers who are low-income, younger, and have spent more years as single parents."

This report is one of the parts of a bigger project by Morsy and Rothstein, looking at social class characteristics blocking children's cognitive and behavioral development and giving some policies to address them.

Morsy and Rothstein make some recommendations for policy changes in the brief, including that businesses compensate workers who have irregular schedules.

Read the full report by Leila Morsy and Richard Rothstein here.