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The Effects of Early Maternal Employment on Later Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes
Author(s) -
Han WenJui,
Waldfogel Jane,
BrooksGunn Jeanne
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00336.x
Subject(s) - psychology , longitudinal study , cognition , national longitudinal surveys , developmental psychology , white (mutation) , cognitive development , demography , medicine , psychiatry , biochemistry , chemistry , pathology , sociology , economics , demographic economics , gene
This article investigates the long‐term impact of early maternal employment on children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Non‐Hispanic White and African American children aged 3 to 4 in the 1986 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth were followed longitudinally to see whether the effects that prior studies found at age 3 to 4 persist into the school‐age years (ages 7 to 8) or whether those effects attenuate over time. The empirical results indicate that maternal employment in the 1st year of a child's life has significant negative effects on White children's cognitive outcomes. These effects persist to ages 7 or 8 for some children but not for others. We also found some negative effects of maternal employment in the 1st year on behavioral problems as assessed at age 7 or 8, but again these effects are found only for White children.