Study compares work hours of dual-physician parents

In dual-physician couples, women with children worked fewer hours than women without children but similar differences in hours worked were not seen among men. That’s according to a new research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The study sample included 10,000 physicians in dual-physician couples (the average age was 38 for women and 39 for men). Researchers estimated weekly hours worked for married, dual-physician couples from 2000 through 2015 using a nationally representative survey of about 3 million households annually.

The study also found:

• Among couples without children, weekly work hours were 57 hours for men and 52.4 hours for women.
• Compared to couples without children, there was no significant difference in hours worked among men whose youngest child was age 1 to 2 (55.3 hours, a difference of 1.7 hours less) but hours worked among women were significantly lower (41.5 hours, a difference of 10.9 hours less).
• Among women, the number of hours worked remained lower compared to women without children as the youngest child got older. Among men, there also was no significant difference in hours as the youngest child got older compared with men without children.

“One possible reason for our results is that even within dual-physician couples, societal expectations for women to reduce hours worked to care for children still hold,” the researchers said.

Alternatively, they said, women in certain specialties may be more likely to both work fewer hours and have children, which would impact the analysis because the authors were unable to adjust for specialty, which was not available.

Analyses were limited to physicians age 25 to 50 to focus on childbearing years. Same-sex couples were excluded because authors focused on sex differences in couples.

Source: HealthLeaders Media