Characteristics of the pregnant women according to their employment status
| n‡ | Total (n=6111) | Employment status | ||
| Unemployed (n=1703) | Employed (n=4408) | |||
| Age (years) | 6111 | 30.2 (5.0) | 27.8 (5.6) | 31.1 (4.5)** |
| Parity (% nulliparous) | 6040 | 57.4 | 47.1 | 62.3** |
| Educational level (% low) | 5840 | 51.7 | 79.9 | 42.4** |
| Family income (% <€2000) | 5637 | 36.1 | 67.6 | 20.0** |
| Ethnicity | ||||
| Dutch (%) | 3324 | 56.3 | 28.4 | 65.7** |
| Other Western (%) | 713 | 12.1 | 11.0 | 12.5** |
| Non-Western (%) | 1867 | 31.6 | 60.7 | 21.8** |
| Marital status (% single) | 5802 | 11.5 | 22.6 | 8.1** |
| Smoking during pregnancy | ||||
| No smoking (% yes) | 4725 | 77.4 | 72.5 | 79.3*** |
| <5 cigarettes a day (% yes) | 702 | 11.5 | 13.2 | 10.8*** |
| ≥5 cigarettes a day (% yes) | 681 | 11.1 | 14.4 | 9.9*** |
| Drinking during pregnancy | ||||
| No drinking (% yes) | 2745 | 45.9 | 64.8 | 38.8*** |
| <1 drink per week (% yes) | 1769 | 29.6 | 22.1 | 32.4*** |
| 1–6 drinks per week (% yes) | 1272 | 21.3 | 11.2 | 25.1*** |
| ≥1 drinks per day (% yes) | 194 | 3.2 | 2.0 | 3.7*** |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 6069 | 23.7 (15.3–50.8) | 24.0 (15.6–50.8) | 23.6 (15.3–49.4)** |
| Psychopathology (score)† | 5358 | 0.15 (0.00–3.04) | 0.24 (0.00–3.04) | 0.13 (0.00–2.86)** |
| Gender of the offspring (% boys) | 6106 | 50.3 | 50.6 | 50.3 |
Values are percentages for categorical variables, mean (SD) for age, and median (100% range) for body mass index (BMI) and psychopathology.
↵** p<0.001,
↵*** p<0.001 for employed versus unemployed using χ2 tests for categorical variables, ANOVA for age, and Kruskal–Wallis test for BMI and psychopathology.
↵† Measured with the Brief Symptom Inventory.
↵‡ Data were missing on parity (n=71), education (n=271), income (n=474), ethnicity (n=207), marital status (n=309), smoking (n=3) and drinking during pregnancy (n=131), BMI (n=42), psychopathology (n=753) and offspring's gender (n=5).