9. Work influences the health of families and children.

A large and important body of research focuses on work-life connections. Since World War II, there has been a dramatic increase of women, especially mothers, participating in the labor force. In California 62 percent of working-age women were part of the paid labor force in 1999,⁴² and 45 percent of households with at least one employee included children.⁴³ Rosalind Barnett, a prominent researcher of work and family life, poses the question of why, since so many people who work live in families, so much of the research focuses on single employees.⁴⁴ She points out that some of the work and health findings that hold for individuals also hold for families. For example, some research has shown unemployment to have negative influences on the health of family members in addition to that of the person who lost a job. In another example of the influence of work on families, asbestos workers who brought home asbestos dust on their clothing contaminated their spouses and children and endangered their health. In general, however, Barnett points to the need for an expanded and integrated model that takes into account the multiplicity of variables that influence the relationships between work and family. One area of particular concern in the work/family literature is the negative impact of working nonstandard hours (evening shifts, employer-arranged irregular schedules, night shifts and rotating shifts). In California, 23 percent of employees work evening, night or rotating shifts, and 30 percent of people who work nonstandard shifts are parents.⁴⁵ Rotating schedules and nonstandard shifts have been linked to risk of coronary heart disease^{46, 47} and increased fatigue and disrupted sleep patterns.^{48, 49}