Working Paper: NBER ID: w10691
Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm
Abstract: This study investigates how maternal employment is related to the outcomes of 10 and 11 year olds after controlling for a wide variety of child, mother and family background characteristics. The results suggest that the mother's labor supply has deleterious effects on cognitive development, obesity and possibly risky behaviors such as smoking or drinking, while reducing behavior problems. These negative consequences are quite small for the average child, however, and usually restricted to relatively long maternal work hours. Less intensive employment is often associated with favorable outcomes and labor supply after the first three years typically has little effect. By contrast, large adverse consequences are frequently obtained for advantaged' adolescents, with negative impacts predicted even for limited amounts of maternal labor supply and for work during the child's fourth through ninth year.
Keywords: Maternal Employment; Child Development; Cognitive Skills; Socioemotional Development; Obesity
JEL Codes: I120; J130; J180; J220
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Maternal employment (J22) | Cognitive development (O11) |
| Maternal employment (J22) | Obesity (I12) |
| Maternal employment (J22) | Risky behaviors (I12) |
| Maternal employment (J22) | Behavior problems (I12) |
| Longer maternal work hours (J22) | Lower cognitive test scores (D29) |
| Longer maternal work hours (J22) | Higher rates of obesity (I14) |
| Maternal employment (limited amounts) (J22) | Negative impacts on cognitive outcomes for advantaged adolescents (I24) |
| Early maternal employment (J22) | Harmful for cognitive outcomes (I12) |
| Maternal employment (J22) | Significant negative consequences for higher socioeconomic backgrounds (I24) |
| Maternal employment (J22) | No significant adverse effects on disadvantaged children (I24) |