In the context of middle childhood, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of maternal employment.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. Many commentators have been concerned about the effects of maternal employment on children. In part, this has been based on more traditional values that argue that the mother ought to remain in the home. Research results are mixed, with some studies suggesting that maternal employment can have negative effects on children (Belsky, 2006b) and other studies suggesting that employed mothers actually provide greater learning opportunities for their children (Buehler et al., 2014). One common belief is that Mom's being in the workforce rather than in the home leads to delinquency. Researchers using data on 707 adolescents, ages 12 to 14, from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth examined whether the occupational status of a mother was connected with delinquent behavior (Vander Ven & Cullen, 2004). They found that maternal employment per se made no difference, but delinquency was connected with lack of supervision. Similar results have been found in the European Union (Cabrera et al., 2014).There are benefits for maternal employment. Daughters of employed women are more achievement oriented and set higher career goals for themselves than daughters of nonworking women (Greene et al., 2013). Children of working mothers tend to be more prosocial, less anxious, and flexible in their gender role stereotypes (Goldberg et al., 2012; Greene et al., 2013).