Social & Emotional Development of Children With Working Parents

Child Care and Shared Responsibilities

• Although you would expect that working mothers would tend to have their children in day care, the AAP notes that most 3- to 5-year-olds are in day care or preschool whether or the parents work or not. Other duties in the household, including child rearing, are more likely to be the province of both parents when both parents work outside the home. These shared responsibilities allow children to see a partnership role model, and children may also take on responsibilities to help out as well. Problems can occur, however, if there are disagreements over money, work hours or home responsibilities, or if one parent wants to work but can̵7;t find a job. The resulting conflicts can affect children, making them feel threatened or insecure, according to the AAP.

The First Year

• When mothers work during the first year of a child̵7;s life, there may be some negative effects on cognitive development, according to ̶0;Meeting Children̵7;s Needs When Parents Work,̶1; by Jane Waldfogel, published by the University of Wisconsin. Waldfogel is a professor of social work and public affairs at Columbia University. Behavior problems may also occur in some children. The responsiveness of the caregiver -- whether it is the parent, a relative or someone else -- seems to be the key factor in how very young children develop when both parents work in the first year of life. The quality of child care and parental interactions also remains the deciding factor in outcomes as children age, according to Waldfogel.

Independence

• When working parents are stressed on the job or at home, or if they work long hours, the AAP finds that children can feel neglected. Parents may also take out their stress on the children, which can have a negative impact. However, the AAP also notes that when children are routinely cared for by someone other than a parent, they may become more independent. A high-quality child care program also exposes children to experiences that help prepare them, both intellectually and socially, for school. A July 2011 article in The Economist reported that a study of 19,000 households found children were actually more likely to have behavior problems if their mothers stayed home for longer periods. However, once other factors, such as socioeconomic status, were taken into account, the effect was more pronounced for girls than for boys.

As Children Get Older

• One research study on children̵7;s cognitive, social and emotional development when their mothers worked in the first year of life was published in the 2010 Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. The children were assessed at 3 years, 4.5 years and in first grade. When mothers worked full time in the first 12 months of a child̵7;s life, some measures of cognitive development were negatively affected. There was no correlation for part-time maternal employment. Although the study did not find any evidence of problems with social and emotional development if mothers worked full time the first year, some children did have behavior problems at age 4.5 or in first grade.