PARENTHOOD AND ITS EFFECT ON HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE IN THE U.S. MARINE CORPS

Abstract

As the Marine Corps looks to identify new ways to retain and promote quality talent, it must build a culture of support for its parents. This proposal analyzes the effects of parenthood on health and performance in the Marine Corps. Using personnel data from 2013–2019 on all active-duty Marines, I conduct a time series analysis and establish pre- and post-birth trends to estimate the effects that childbirth has on first-time parents and how patterns differ among subgroup populations. Results show that parenthood significantly impacts the health of first-time Marine parents. The impacts are more significant on new Marine mothers, but both mothers and fathers do eventually recover to near pre-birth levels. Mothers with at least 12 months of post-birth service experience a 0.2–0.4 standard deviation drop from the average mean on fitness tests, compared to their childless counterparts. The job performance of Marine parents is less impacted by parenthood. Further, enlisted Marines and those in the combat arms Military Occupational Specialties are most affected by parenthood relative to other job subgroups. The results of this study can translate to policies in the civilian workplace of similar professions. The U.S. can only build a culture of health around parenthood if we know what programs keep parents healthy. The research should interest the Corps’ manpower, physical fitness, and family readiness communities.