Does Maternal Involvement Have A Negatice Effect On Child Development

CADV 150, 2PM class

15 November 2004

Wakefield

Does Maternal Employment Have a Negative Effect on Child Development?

Section 1: The Controversy

Many factors shape and affect the development of a child. One such factor is the role the parents play. As the primary care takers, the choices they make affect not only themselves, but their children as well. For this reason, the effect of maternal employment has on the children is a widely debated topic that has caused clashing views of the eventual implications.

In the past, the issue of maternal employment was something that was never really thought of. The primary role of the mothers revolved around the domestic chores of the household, which included her responsibility to the children. In fact, the thought of mothers working was almost unheard of, especially before and during the 50s. As the years progressed, however, mothers grew more and more independent, and thus by the 1960s, women made the transition from homemaker to working mother. Mothers were now able to rake in the dough, so to speak, and create their own income to support the family. With this new idea, people seemed to grow concerned as to what kind of affect maternal employment would have on the children. Because of this growing concern, they found that the implications was, and still is, not only a question of whether mothers should or should not hold jobs outside of the home, but also what kind of contexts the child is raised in. To help decide on the outcome of maternal employment, researchers has factored in many other variables ranging from the child's age to how much support a father give. One cannot simply label or condemn a child as "difficult" or "impossible" simply because the mother has a job. The overall effect includes not only how the child is being treated outside his mother's care, but also what emotions and feelings is he constantly surrounded by when in the presence of his mother.

Researchers within the field of child development have arrived to two completely different conclusions. The most notable researchers studying the effects of maternal employment are Jay Belsky and his partner David Eggebeen and, on the other side of the scope, K. Alison Clarke-Stewart. Belsky and Eggebeen (1991) argue that maternal employment during infancy has a negative effect on the children's social and behavioral development. Contrastingly, Clarke-Stewart (1991) concluded that there are great benefits socially and intellectually when a mother works and has to put their child in a childcare.

On both sides of the issue, extensive research has been conducted to prove the effects of maternal employment. Many studies have found supportive findings for both arguments by focusing on certain variables and contexts the child is brought up in. Therefore, because of the seemingly contradicting views, yet equally logical, many cannot seem to find common ground, thus making in a controversial topic.

Section 2: The Implications

One finds that during the mother's employment, how a child develops is largely dependent how he or she is raised in both of the environments--at home and at the childcare institution (Brooks- Gunn, Han, & Waldfogel, 2002). With this in mind, it is not as simple as saying that maternal employment and the development of the child is directly related. As a matter of fact, there are many variables that play a role. For example, the work satisfaction the mother receives and the amount of time she spends with her children. The effects on the children's development can largely be seen by examining the various stages the child goes through and what domains is more dominantly affected.

Infancy

Researchers have found that the first year of a child's life has a large impact on their cognitive development (Lewis & Brooks-Gunn, 1979). It is no wonder, then, that many have researched and found that there are implications to an infant's development if the mother works during the first couple years of their child's life. There have positive and negative findings in regarding to the effects, which is mainly seen in their socioemotional development, of maternal employment on the children. Eventually, though, researchers have found that maternal employment and child development are not directly related; in fact, various situations in the child's life have played a factor in their development.

If there is a negative outcome to the development of child's cognitive or socioemotional skills, this may be due to the quality of the child care he or she is put in and what kind of emotions the mother brings home from work- relaxed or on edge (Baum, 2003). Thus, if the quality of the childcare is poor, the child will, of course, not have acquired sufficient nurture or care to grow and develop in the best way possible. As long as the child receives high quality care as an infant outside the mother's, their cognitive and linguistics skills can be enhanced. However, the results are actually only seen in low-income families, where children would not receive the best stimuli as he or she would probably receive if in childcare (M.E. Lamb, 1998; Ramey 1992; Scarr 1997 & 1998). If at home the situation were not so great, for example, not many stimulating toys to play with or a lack of nutritious diet due to a low-income, the effect on a child living in those conditions would most likely turn out for the worse. On the other hand, if the same child needs to be put in child care because of his or her mother working, the a positive outcome would more evident if compared to a child living in middle to upper class conditions.

Researchers have also found the disposition of a full-time working mother can have an effect on the child. Somehow, the child picks up on what the mother is feeling and, as a result, can affect the value of interaction between mother and infant. According to Margaret Tresch Owen and Marta J. Cox (1988), infants have a tendency to develop insecure attachments to their mothers if the mother works full-time. These "insecure attachments" can be defined in terms of their temperament; "throwing toys, refusing to interact, [have] a failure to comfort, or [have] temper tantrums," they are signs of an insecure child (Owen & Cox, 1988). Such behavior may be a result of the lack of interaction between mother and child. Since the mother is preoccupied resting and relaxing after a long day's work, she is less inclined to socialize with her child. Such an