In two-physician couples, women with children work fewer hours per week than women without children; however, no such difference existed between men with and without children, a study found.
“Little is known about how physicians within dual-physician couples adjust hours worked due to children or whether sex differences, if they exist, have changed over time, especially because physicians of both sexes have increasingly emphasized the importance of shared parenting responsibility,” the researchers write.
Dan P. Ly, MD, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues report their findings in a research letter published online August 21 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The study included 9868 individuals aged 25 to 50 years who reported that they and their spouse were a physician or surgeon. The researchers excluded same-sex couples because the investigators were studying between-sex differences. The study also excluded couples with children younger than 1 year because hours worked may have reflected hours immediately after the child was born.
Among childless couples, work hours per week were 57 hours (95% confidence interval [CI], 55.4 – 58.5 hours) for men and 52.4 hours (95% CI, (50.7 – 54.1 hours) for women.
Among those whose youngest child was aged 1 to 2 years, hours worked did not differ significantly between men with children and men without children (55.3 hours; 95% CI, 54.0 – 56.6 hours; difference, −1.7 hours). Women with similarly aged children worked significantly fewer hours compared with women in childless couples (41.5 hours; 95% CI, 39.9 – 43.0 hours; difference, −10.9 hours).
As the youngest child got older, weekly hours worked did not differ significantly between men with and without children, although they continued to be significantly lower among women with children compared with women in childless couples.
In couples whose youngest child was aged 7 years or older, men worked 55.2 hours per week (95% CI, 53.9 – 56.5 hours; difference, −1.7 hours) and women worked 43.2 hours (95% CI, 41.4 – 44.9 hours; difference, −9.2 hours), compared with their childless counterparts.
“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 conclude.
“Alternatively, women in certain specialties may be more likely to both work fewer hours and have children, which would confound our analysis due to our inability to adjust for physician specialty.”
Two authors report receiving consulting fees unrelated to this work from Precision Health Economics. Dr Ly has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
JAMA Intern Med. Published online August 21, 2017. Abstract
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