Study on working moms gets widespread press

A psychologist's study that found children are not negatively affected when their mothers work outside the home has received widespread press--and affirmed what many American families wanted to hear.

The study, in the March issue of APA's Developmental Psychology (Vol. 35, No. 2, p. 445-459), was picked up by more than 50 magazines, broadcasters and newspapers. In the study, Elizabeth Harvey, PhD, assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, examined how a mother's employment during her child's first three years affects that child's functioning. Harvey used data collected in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a survey of about 12,600 individuals who have been interviewed annually since 1979 when they were between age 14 and 22. In 1986, children of the women in this group began being assessed as well.

Harvey examined four variables: whether a mother worked during the first three years of her child's life, how soon she returned to work after childbirth, how many hours per week she worked and if there were any periods of unemployment. Harvey also considered five outcome variables in the children: obedience, behavior problems, cognitive development, self-esteem and academic achievement.

The study found that children whose mothers worked during the first three years of their lives weren't significantly different from children whose mothers didn't work during the same timeframe.

However, two minor differences were found to decline over time:

* Children ages 3 and 4 whose mothers returned to work later showed a higher rate of obedience than the same age group whose mothers returned to work sooner. However, these differences were small and disappeared by the time the children were ages 5 to 6.

* Children whose mothers worked long hours were found to have slightly lower scores on tests that measure vocabulary and individual student achievement. However, these differences were small and faded over time.

APA Home Page . Search . Site Map