Discuss the impact of maternal employment on development in middle childhood

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

When mothers enjoy their work and remain committed to parenting, children show favorable adjustment—higher self-esteem, more positive family and peer relations, less gender-stereotyped beliefs, and better grades in school. Girls, especially, profit from the image of female competence. Regardless of SES, daughters of employed mothers are more achievement- and career-oriented. Parenting practices contribute to these benefits. Employed mothers who value their parenting role are more likely to use authoritative child rearing and coregulation. And maternal employment leads fathers—especially those who believe in the importance of the paternal role and who feel successful at parenting—to take on greater child-care responsibilities. Paternal involvement is associated in childhood and adolescence with higher intelligence and achievement, more mature social behavior, and a flexible view of gender roles. But when employment places heavy demands on a mother's or a father's schedule or is stressful for other reasons, children are at risk for ineffective parenting—reduced parental sensitivity, fewer joint parent–child activities, and poorer cognitive development throughout childhood and adolescence. In contrast, part-time employment and flexible work schedules, which help parents meet children's needs, are associated with sensitive, involved parenting and good child adjustment.