Citation

Han WJ, Waldfogel J, Brooks‐Gunn J. J. Marriage Fam. 2004; 63(2): 336-354.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, National Council on Family Relations, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00336.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

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.

Language: en