Slide 1
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Sociology 640
Class 16:
More on Mother’s Work and Childcare
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Slide 2
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Review – Previous Studies
• General conclusion is that maternal
employment, per se, has little impact on
children’s development/well-being
• Some evidence that employment during first
year does have some negative implications
• Quality of childcare is positively related to
children’s outcomes
• Quality of parenting/home environment is
positively related to children’s outcomes
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Slide 3
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Shortcomings – Previous Studies
• Relatively small samples
• Outcomes studied are limited
• Age range of children is limited
– Typically limited to very early years of life
• Little attempt to address selectivity
– Possibility that mothers who work when kids are
small are different than those who do not
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Slide 4
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Study based on Large Longitudinal
Study – NLSY79
• Follow-up large sample of M&W age 15-22 in
1979
• Observe transition to parenthood, work patterns,
home environment, and children’s cognitive
development
• Mothers’/Fathers’ employment in first 3 years of
children’s lives
• Vocabulary, Reading, Math (3-6 year olds)
• Relevance of these measures as predictors of
longer-term outcomes
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Slide 5
Differences in Cognitive Development –
Bivariate Relationships
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108
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PIAT-R Test
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Year 1
Years 2-3
Mother’s Weekly Work Hrs.
0
1 to 29
30+
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Slide 6
Mother’s work status and
socioeconomic profile
35
30
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25
20
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15
10
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5
0
Age at birth
Education
Mother’s Weekly Work Hrs.
0
Fam. Poverty
1 to 29
30+
Low Birth Weight
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Slide 7
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General Results
• Positive bivariate relationship disappears when
maternal characteristics are controlled
• A negative effect of employment at age 1 on M&R
scores at age 5-6
• Even bigger negative effect of employment at ages 2-3
on M&R scores at age 5-6
• Offset somewhat by father’s employment
• Implications for single mothers with limited economic
resources?
• Weaknesses of this study: very limited measures of
parental involvement/home environment, no good
measures of childcare quality
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Slide 8
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Another Recent Study
• Similar focus
• Much greater detail on home environment,
parenting quality, and childcare quality
• Measure cognitive development & school
readiness at 2 yrs. and 3 yrs.
• Focuses on maternal employment in the
first year
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Slide 9
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General Findings
• School readiness at age 3 lower for children
whose mothers worked in first year of life
• Especially low for children of working
mothers with lower parenting sensitivity
• Especially low for sons of working mothers
• Especially low for children of working
mothers who are married
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Slide 10
School Readiness at Age 3 – Effects
of Maternal Employment
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School-Readiness at age 3
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40
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35
30
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25
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1: Avg. characteristics, mother not working
5: Same as 3 – but low maternal sensitivity
2: Same as 1 – but mother working <30 hrs/week
6: Same as 3 – but below avg. childcare
3: Same as 1 – but mother working>=30 hrs./week.
7: Same as 1 – but better environ., sensitivity, childcare
4: Same as 3 – but worse home environment
8: Same as 3 – but worse environ, sensitivity, chilcare
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Slide 11
Perry Preschool Program
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123 Low SES
3-4 Year Olds
High Quality Preschool
Program n=58
High Quality Preschool
Program n=65
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Subsequent
Outcomes
vs.
Subsequent
Outcomes
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Slide 12
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Outcomes
•
•
•
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HS graduation: 71% vs. 54%
$2k+ per month at 27: 29% vs. 7%
Own home at 27: 36% vs. 13%
Mean # arrests by 27: 2.3 vs. 4.6
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