The effects of early maternal employment on later cognitive and behavioraloutcomes

This article investigates the long-term impact of early maternal employment on children's cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Non-Hispanic White and Af rican American children aged 3 to 4 in the 1986 National Longitudinal Surve y of Youth were followed longitudinally to see whether the effects that pri or studies found at age 3 to 4 persist into the school-age years (ages 7 to 8) or whether those effects attenuate over rime. The empirical results ind icate that maternal employment in the Ist year of a child's life has signif icant negative effects on White children's cognitive outcomes. These effect s persist to ages 7 or 8 for some children bur not for others. We also foun d some negative effects of maternal employment in the Ist year on behaviora l problems as assessed at age 7 or 8, but again these effects are found onl y for White children.