Table 4.
The effects of maternal employment patterns on child well-being: All behavior problems, WES 1997–2003 (first-difference models)
| Maternal Employment-Related Variables | Dependent Variables—ΔChild Outcomest
− 1,t
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Δ Behavior Problem Indext − 1,t (1) | Δ Externalizing Scalet − 1,t (2) | Δ Internalizing Scalet − 1,t (3) | Δ Prob(Disruptive in School)t − 1,t (4) | Δ Prob(School Absenteeism)t − 1,t (5) | |
| Δ Workedt − 1,t (ref. = Δ job stability) | −0.6074 (0.4251) | −0.1845 (0.1691) | −0.1081 (0.2044) | 0.0256 (0.0727) | −0.0431 (0.0764) |
| Δ Job Instabilityt − 1,t | 0.6967** (0.2392) | 0.2126* (0.0838) | 0.2611* (0.1096) | −0.0022 (0.0392) | 0.0669† (0.0386) |
| Δ Voluntary Job Mobilityt − 1,t | 0.2964 (0.2267) | 0.1280 (0.0891) | 0.1431 (0.1088) | 0.0465 (0.0409) | 0.0498 (0.0383) |
| Δ Full-Time Work Hourst − 1,t | −0.0208 (0.2359) | 0.0403 (0.0861) | −0.0780 (0.1015) | 0.0307 (0.0370) | 0.0132 (0.0398) |
| Δ Fluctuating Work Hourst − 1,t | 0.4728* (0.2373) | 0.1519† (0.0834) | 0.2351* (0.1041) | −0.0599 (0.0392) | 0.0224 (0.0475) |
| Child-Year Observations | 1,047 | 1,666 | 1,656 | 1,478 | 744 |
| No. of Children | 457 | 524 | 523 | 497 | 408 |
Notes: Robust standard errors (clustered on child) are shown in parentheses. All models include controls for changes in child’s age, maternal education, home literacy environment scale, family structure, and father involvement in child rearing, as well as the number of months between waves. These effects are suppressed in the table to conserve space. In these analyses, the coefficient on “Δ worked” represents the effect of a mother’s movement from not working (in the prior period) to working and experiencing job stability during the most recent 1–2 years. The coefficient on “Δ job instability” indicates the change in children’s behavior associated with a mother’s movement from job stability (experienced in the prior period) to job instability experienced during the most recent 1–2 years. To understand the influence on children of the movement from job mobility to job instability, one would subtract the coefficient on “Δ voluntary job mobility” from the coefficient on “Δ job instability.” To understand the influence on children of the movement from nonwork to an unstable job, one would sum the coefficients on “Δ worked” and “Δ job instability.” Because nearly all mothers worked at some point during the past year, the working versus not working comparison is less useful than is characterizing the nature and pattern of employment and identifying differential effects in the type of maternal work involvement on child well-being.
p < .10;
p < .05;
p < .01