Home and Away: Understanding the Impact of Maternal Employment in Infancy on Non-Cognitive Development in the First Seven Years

This study examines the relationship between maternal employment during infancy and the non-cognitive development of children up to the age of 7.  Theories from economics, psychology and sociology identify the importance of... [ view full abstract ]

This study examines the relationship between maternal employment during infancy and the non-cognitive development of children up to the age of 7.  Theories from economics, psychology and sociology identify the importance of the early years in child development and highlight how a child’s environment and relationships play a critical role in ensuring secure attachment and emotional regulation. Utilising data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach is applied to the measurement of latent constructs that represent the home environment, parenting, maternal attachment and stress.  Mediation analysis investigates if these latent constructs, together with maternal earnings and non-parental childcare, explain the impact of maternal employment on child behaviour. This study also investigates moderating factors such as maternal education, gender and lone parenthood.

The results show that while full-time maternal employment increases maternal stress which, in turn, adversely impacts behavioural problems, this effect is partially offset by improvements in maternal attachment among working mothers. Participation in centre-based childcare at 9 months has a favourable impact on problematic behaviour for children from more advantaged backgrounds, while informal childcare has an adverse effect for children from less advantaged backgrounds. For lone parents, maternal earnings play a favourable mediating role for part-time employment in the early years. Also, lone parent mothers who work full-time spend more time reading with their children than their non-working counterparts. However, parental time investment is reduced by full-time employment for families with a partner present.

These findings support policy initiatives that facilitate both flexible maternal employment choices and access to affordable quality centre-based childcare for all children of working parents in the early years.