Maternal Employment and Parenting Through Middle Childhood: Contextualizing Factors

• Published in: Journal of marriage and family Vol. 76; no. 5; pp. 1025 - 1046
• Main Authors: Buehler, Cheryl, O'Brien, Marion, Swartout, Kevin M., Zhou, Nan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.10.2014; The National Council on Family Relations; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Academic grades; Child care; Child Care Services; Child development; Child Health; Childhood; Childrearing Practices; Children; Children & youth; cognitive; Educational Attainment; Employment; Ethnicity; Family; Family studies; Grade 5; Health Problems; Labor Force Participation; Learning; Low income; Mothers; Of General Interest; Parenting; Parents; part time; Part time employment; sensitivity; work; Work hours; Working Hours; Working mothers; Young Children; cognitive; work; employment; sensitivity; family; parenting; part time
• ISSN: 0022-2445; 1741-3737
• DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12130

The authors used data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,364) to examine maternal work hour status and parenting (sensitivity and learning opportunities) from infancy through middle childhood. Work hour status was conceptualized as nonemployment, part time, and full time. Adjusting for covariates, mothers employed part time had higher sensitivity scores and higher provision of child learning opportunity scores than did mothers who were not employed, and these differences characterized families during early childhood rather than middle childhood. Mothers' provision of child learning opportunities was greater when she was employed full time (vs. part time) during early childhood. In addition to child age, mothers' ethnic minority status and partner status moderated the association between maternal work hour status and mothers' parenting. In general, the findings supported ideas forwarded by role expansionist theory.