Abstract
We investigated the effects of early maternal employment on children’s cognitive outcomes, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth on 1,872 children who can be followed from birth to age 7 or 8. We found some persistent adverse effects of first-year maternal employment and some positive effects of second- and third-year maternal employment on cognitive outcomes for non-Hispanic white children, but not for African American or Hispanic children. These effects are present even after we controlled for a range of individual and family characteristics that affect child development, including those that are likely to be correlated with maternal employment, such as breast-feeding and the use of nonmaternal child care. Controlling for family fixed effects reduces the effects of early maternal employment on some cognitive outcomes but not on others.
Child Care, Ordinary Little Square, Cognitive Outcome, Maternal Employment, Ordinary Little Square Model
The text of this article is only available as a PDF.
References
American Academy of Pediatrics
(1997
). Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk
. Pediatrics
, 100
, 1035
–39
. 10.1542/peds.100.6.1035Baker, P.C., & Mott, F.L. (
1989
). NLSY Child Handbook 1989: A Guide and Resource Document for the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1986 Child Data
. Columbus, OH
: Center for Human Resource Research
.Baydar, N., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (
1991
). Effects of Maternal Employment and Child Care Arrangements in Infancy on Preschoolers’ Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes: Evidence From the Children of the NLSY
. Developmental Psychology
, 27
, 918
–31
. 10.1037/0012-1649.27.6.932Baydar, N., Greek, A., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (
1997
). A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of the Birth of a Sibling During the First Six Years of Life
. Journal of Marriage and the Family
, 59
, 939
–56
. 10.2307/353794Belsky, J. (
1988
). The ‘Effects’ of Infant Day Care Reconsidered
. Early Childhood Research Quarterly
, 3
, 235
–72
. 10.1016/0885-2006(88)90003-8Belsky, J., & Eggebeen, D. (
1991
). Early and Extensive Maternal Employment/Child Care and 4–6 Year Olds Socioemotional Development: Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
. Journal of Marriage and the Family
, 53
, 1083
–99
. 10.2307/353011Bianchi, S.M. (
2000
). Maternal Employment and Time With Children: Dramatic Change or Surprising Continuity?
. Demography
, 37
, 401
–14
. 10.1353/dem.2000.0001Blau, F.D, & Grossberg, A.J. (
1992
). Maternal Labor Supply and Children’s Cognitive Development
. Review of Economics and Statistics
, 74
, 474
–81
. 10.2307/2109492Bradley, R.H., Caldwell, B.M., Rock, S.L., Ramey, C.T., Barnard, K.E., Gary, C., Hammond, M.A., Mitchell, S., Gottfried, A.W., Siegel, L., & Johnson, D. (
1989
). Home Environment and Cognitive Development in the First 3 Years of Life: A Collaborative Study Involving Six Sites and Three Ethnic Groups in North America
. Developmental Psychology
, 25
, 217
–35
. 10.1037/0012-1649.25.2.217Brooks-Gunn, J., Klebanov, P.K., & Duncan, G.J. (
1996
). Ethnic Differences in Children’s Intelligence Test Scores: Role of Economic Deprivation, Home Environment, and Maternal Characteristics
. Child Development
, 67
, 396
–408
. 10.2307/1131822Bryk, A.S., & Raudenbush, S.W. (
1992
). Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods
. Newbury Park, CA
: Sage
.Burchinal, M.R., Bailey, D.B., & Snyder, P. (
1994
). Using Growth Curve Analyses to Evaluate Child Changes in Longitudinal Investigations
. Journal of Early Interventions
, 18
, 422
–42
.Burchinal, M.R., Roberts, J.E., Nabors, L., & Bryant, D.M. (
1996
). Quality of Center Infant Care and Infant Cognitive and Language Development
. Child Development
, 67
, 606
–20
. 10.2307/1131835Burchinal, M.R., Roberts, J.E., Riggins, R., Zeisel, S.A., Neebe, E., & Bryant, D. (
2000
). Relating Quality of Center-Based Child Care to Early Cognitive and Language Development Longitudinally
. Child Development
, 71
, 339
–57
. 10.1111/1467-8624.00149Chase-Lansdale, P.L., Mott, F.L., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Phillips, D. (
1991
). Children of the NLSY: A Unique Research Opportunity
. Developmental Psychology
, 27
, 918
–31
. 10.1037/0012-1649.27.6.918Currie, J., & Thomas, D. (
1995
). Does Head Start Make a Difference?
. American Economic Review
, 85
, 341
–64
.Desai, S., Chase-Lansdale, P.L., & Michael, R. (
1989
). Mother or Market? Effects of Maternal Employment on Cognitive Development of Four Year Old Children
. Demography
, 26
, 545
–61
. 10.2307/2061257Dunn, L., & Dunn, L. (
1981
). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R)
. Circle Pines, MN
: American Guidance Service
.Greenstein, T.N. (
1995
). Are the ‘Most Advantaged’ Children Truly Disadvantaged by Early Maternal Employment? Effects on Child Cognitive Outcomes
. Journal of Family Issues
, 16
, 149
–69
. 10.1177/019251395016002002Han, W., Waldfogel, J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (
2001
). The Effects of Maternal Employment on Later Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes
. Journal of Marriage and the Family
, 63
, 336
–54
. 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00336.xHarvey, E. (
1999
). Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of Early Parental Employment on Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
. Developmental Psychology
, 35
, 445
–59
. 10.1037/0012-1649.35.2.445James-Burdumy, S. (
1999
). The Effect of Maternal Labor Force Participation on Child Development
. Princeton, NJ
: Mathematica Policy Research
.Joyce, T.J., Kaestner, R., & Korenman, S. (
2000
). The Effect of Pregnancy Intention on Child Development
. Demography
, 37
, 83
–94
. 10.2307/2648098Karoly, LA., Greenwood, P.W., Everingham, S.S., Hoube, J., Kilburn, M.R., Rydell, C.P., Sanders, M., & Chiesa, J. (
1998
). Investing in Our Children: What We Know and Don’t Know About the Costs and Benefits of Early Childhood Interventions
. Santa Monica, CA
: RAND
.Klebanov, P.K., Brooks-Gunn, J., McCarton, C., & McCormick, M.C. (
1998
). The Contribution of Neighborhood and Family Income to Developmental Test Scores Over the First Three Years of Life
. Child Development
, 69
, 1420
–36
. 10.2307/1132275McCarton, C., Brooks-Gunn, J., Wallace, I., Bauer, C., Bennett, F., Bernbaum, J., Broyles, R., Casey, P., McCormick, M., Scott, D., Tyson, J., Tonasica, J., & Meinert, C. (
1997
). Results at 8 Years of Intervention for Low Birthweight Premature Infants: The Infant Health and Development Program
. Journal of the American Medical Association
, 227
, 126
–32
. 10.1001/jama.277.2.126Menaghan, E.G., & Parcel, T.L. (
1995
). Social Sources of Change in Children’s Home Environments: The Effects of Parental Occupational Experiences and Family Conditions
. Journal of Marriage and the Family
, 57
, 69
–84
. 10.2307/353817NICHD Early Child Care Research Network
(1997
). Child Care in the First Year of Life
. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly
, 43
, 340
–60
. (
1997
). Poverty and Patterns of Child Care
. In G.J. Duncan, & J. Brooks-Gunn (Eds.), Consequences of Growing Up Poor
(pp. 100
–31
). New York
: Russell Sage Foundation
.NICHD Early Child Care Research Network
(1998
). Early Child Care and Self-Control, Compliance, and Problem Behavior at 24 and 36 Months
. Child Development
, 69
, 1145
–70
.NICHD Early Child Care Research Network
(1999
). Child Care and Mother Child Interaction in the First Three Years of Life
. Developmental Psychology
, 35
, 1399
–413
. 10.1037/0012-1649.35.6.1399NICHD Early Child Care Research Network
(2000
). The Relation of Child Care to Cognitive and Language Development
. Child Development
, 71
, 960
–80
. 10.1111/1467-8624.00202Parcel, T.J., & Dufur, M.J. (
2001
). Capital at Home and at School: Effects on Child Social Adjustment
. Journal of Marriage and the Family
, 63
, 32
–47
. 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00032.xParcel, T.L., & Menaghan, E.G. (
1994
). Early Parental Work, Family Social Capital, and Early Childhood Outcomes
. American Journal of Sociology
, 99
, 972
–1009
. 10.1086/230369Parcel, T.L., & Menaghan, E.G. (
1994
). Parents’ Jobs and Children’s Lives
. New York
: Walter de Gruyter
.Phillips, M., Brooks-Gunn, J., Duncan, G.J., Klebanov, P.K., & Jencks, C. (
1998
). Family Background, Parenting Practices, and the Black-White Test Score Gap
. In C. Jencks, & M. Phillips (Eds.), The Black-White Test Score Gap
(pp. 103
–45
). Washington, DC
: Brookings Institution Press
.Ruhm, C. 2000. “Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development.” Unpublished manuscript, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1999. Statistical Abstract of the United States. Available on-line at http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-us.html.
Promoting Health/Preventing Disease: Year 2000 Objectives for the Nation
. (1989
). Washington, DC
: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
.U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2000. “Employment Characteristics of Fami lies in 1999.” Available on-line at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/famee.nr0.htm.
Vandell, D.L., & Ramanan, J. (
1992
). Effects of Early and Recent Maternal Employment on Children from Low-Income Families
. Child Development
, 63
, 938
–49
. 10.2307/1131245© Population Association of America 2002
2002
Issue Section:
Articles
