Early Parental Work, Family Social Capital, and Early Childhood Outcomes

This article evaluates the impact of parental working conditions on both a cognitive child outcome and a social one among a national sample of three- to six-year-old children with employed mothers. Current maternal working conditions (i.e., a mother's working conditions at the time of the study...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of sociology 1994-01, Vol.99 (4), p.972-1009
Main Authors: Parcel, Toby L., Menaghan, Elizabeth G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior problems
Child care
Child Development
Child. Socialization
Childhood
Children
Employment
Family
Family Work Relationship
Mothers
Parent Child Relations
Parents
Parents & parenting
Psychosocial Factors
Radiocarbon
Social research
Sociology
Sociology of the family. Age groups
Work
Work Environment
Work hours
Working conditions
Working hours
Working Mothers
Working Women
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Summary:This article evaluates the impact of parental working conditions on both a cognitive child outcome and a social one among a national sample of three- to six-year-old children with employed mothers. Current maternal working conditions (i.e., a mother's working conditions at the time of the study) affect verbal facility, but paternal work hours in the early years have significant effects on children's behavior problems. Mother's current occupational complexity interacts with her resources and employment characteristics to influence both cognitive and social outcomes. The conclusion is that adequate parental resources contribute to the forms of family social capital useful in facilitating positive child outcomes, but that conclusions regarding negative effects of maternal work in the child's first year have been overgeneralized.
ISSN:0002-9602
1537-5390
DOI:10.1086/230369