Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development

Abstract

Maternal employment during the first three years of the child’s life has a small deleterious effect on estimated verbal ability of three- and fouryear- olds and a larger negative impact on reading and mathematics achievement of five- and six-year-olds. This study provides a more pessimistic assessment than most prior research for two reasons. First, previous analyses often control crudely for differences in child and household characteristics. Second, the negative relationships are more pronounced for the reading and mathematics performance of five- and six-year-old children than for the verbal scores of three- and four-year-olds.