This paper examines the issue of whether maternal employment negatively impacts child growth and development. The authors conducted research on both sides of the issue and concluded that the benefits of maternal employment outweigh the supposed negatives. While some argue children with working mothers have less time with parents and perform worse on tests, the authors found maternal employment does not harm children and can provide financial benefits and reduce parental stress levels.

1. Running Head: MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD GROWTH
Maternal Employment and Child Growth- is it Worth it?
Tristan Bernhard, Courtney Pirc, Jolie Presson, Emily Rafson, and Elle Stackhouse
University of Northern Iowa

2. MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD GROWTH 1
Abstract
This group aims to address the issue of maternal employment on a child’s growth. Our
group has researched both sides of this developmental issue for academic purposes. After debate
concerning the issue, our group settled on a stance that is eventually discussed in this paper.
While both sides of the issue are attended to, it is the opinion of this group of authors that the
benefits of maternal employment exceed the supposed negatives of spending more time away
from one’s child during critical years.

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Maternal Employment and Child Growth- is it Worth it?
Unfortunately, a perceived choice between commitment to raising one’s child and one’s
career is a choice mothers across the nation face on a daily basis. Because of the enormous time
commitment that having a child creates, many working mothers find that they need to look at
quitting their careers to raise their child. While many may point to the benefits of spending an
increased amount of time with their child, others may point to the influx of resources that another
job brings. Although there is no easy answer to this difficult developmental debate, our research
group has worked at length to compile information that can assist in sorting out this oft
polarizing issue. After each member of the research team spent time at length researching both
sides of the issue, the conclusion was made that more scientific data and logic points towards
maternal employment being a positive for home life and development of children and their
mothers. Despite common arguments that mothers will bring work stress back to home life,
mothers will have less quality time with children, and children with working mothers score
worse on standardized testing, maternal employment still prevails as the best choice for mothers
and their children more often than not.
The Detriments of Maternal Employment
There are several arguments that those who don’t hold the idea of maternal employment
in a high light may cite. Among these,the thought that mothers will bring work stress back to
home life, mothers will have less quality time with children, and children with working mothers
score worse on standardized testing are the most prominent.
One thing that has to be considered when a mother spends her day at a job, is what kind

4. MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD GROWTH 3
of state she will be in to be a parent when she returns home. Jobs are demanding, and getting
more and more demanding as of late. Everest College conducted their third study concerning
workplace stress to find that 8 in 10 Americans are stressed about their jobs. When we can
observe such a strong correlation between working and additional stress, a clear line can be
drawn between the risk of heightened stress due to employment affecting children. High stress
environments can be caustic to the atmosphere children are raised in, and thus the stress that
comes from the mother’s job must be seen as a liability to a child’s relationship with his or her
mother.
It also must be noted that on a fundamental level, when the mother is out of the house
working, she consequently spends less time with her child. This is a basic fact that simply must
be addressed when considering the detriments of maternal employment. Because less time is
being spent with the child in a productive/sheltered environment such as the home, the child is
less likely to develop a strong and unshakable connection--especially in the first years of life.
This lack of quality time with the child can be quite concerning, especially if the child is still
relatively young at the time of employment.
Lastly, there are concerns that the children of employed mothers do worse on average on
standardized tests in schools, thus showing that development is possibly behind schedule.
Ultimately, academic performance is one of the most often used measuring sticks for comparing
the development of children. As researchers at Essex University found, “The children of mothers
who return to work full time in the years before they start school have slower emotional
development and score less well in reading and maths tests, according to this study” (Carvel).
This provides solid, scientific, measurable data to the idea that maternal employment has a
negative effect on the academic development of children.

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Effects of Work on Parenting
The common misconception is that mothers who return to work shortly after giving
childbirth may take out their work related stress on the newborn when at home. Also, that
mothers working long hours are subject to exhaustion, emotional distress, and overload which
could have detrimental effect on the child. When in reality, a lot of the time this is not the case.
Stay-at-home mothers are more likely to be depressed and withdraw from their children so if the
mothers are working, it may increase the quality time spent with the infant at home ( Baum II,
2003).
My group and I have found quite a bit of research on why stay-at-home mothers tend to
have higher depression rates than working mothers. One the most compelling things found was a
survey done by Pinka Chatterji, Sara Markowitz and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn completed in 2012,
for employed mothers and unemployed mothers at the 1- and 6-month stage. The survey asked
them questions such as “I feel trapped by my responsibilities as a parent,” “I enjoy being a
parent,” “I feel capable and on top of things when caring for my baby.” The results show that
employed mothers at 6 months report lower rates of parenting stress than mothers who were not
employed at 6 months. This is the true for parenting stress measured at one month stage as well.
Some reasons why stay-at-home mothers may have higher depression rates is because they may
feel like they aren’t contributing anything to their society, and may feel lazy or worthless at
times. These emotions can take heavy effect on the mother and child as well. This could
especially be the case for mothers who previously had a job and then quit to stay at home to care
of their child. Another reason could be for financial issues, which we will discuss more in depth
later in this paper. If the mother isn’t able to provide financially for her family, it could cause an
abundance of stress on her part that would unknowingly be taken out on the children. Mother’s

6. MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD GROWTH 5
who are working may have less quantity of time to spend with their child, but the overall
quantity of their time together will be better spent.
Quality of Parenting by Working Mothers
Mothers working full time, or even part time jobs, are learning quickly that it is a
balancing act. From their work life to their personal life, they have become adapted to making
everything work, despite any obstacles in the way. That is where the argument, do working
mothers spend much time with their children, comes in. The answer is yes. Although the
mother’s time may be more divided, it is very likely that they will put aside quality time to spend
with their children. There are also other factors that come into play when it comes to this. In a
study done by E. Youngberg in 2011 on the balancing of working life for mother’s and the
cognitive effects it has on children, it was found that mothers with higher degrees of education
found it easier to fulfill all the aspects of working and parenting. They have had to balance likely
school, work, and a social life years previous while pursuing their degree. That was great
practice to prepare them for the challenges ahead. Having the initiative to get an education and
carry out a career that they’re hopefully passionate about sets them aside from the rest of society.
Having taken that extra step to differentiate themselves from millions of other people, it
shows that these women are likely happier. They spent years putting in the hard work to labor the
rest of their lives in a career they love. “Mothers are able to remain active in their place of work,
doing something they enjoy that stimulates them cognitively while still being able to spend time
with their children while they are not at work” (Youngberg, 2011). This precious time they do
have with their children is not wasted. In a study on maternal employment and children’s time
with parents done by A. Hsin in 2014, it was found that mothers are trading the quantity of time
spent with children for quality time. This meaning that the time children and mother are spending

7. MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD GROWTH 6
together is valued more than if they were around each other all the time. Mothers also choose to
spend it doing more beneficial activities. Hsin found that full time working mothers spend their
time do structured activities such as verbal exchange and direct engagement. This involvement is
very prominent in children six years or younger because the educational activities are extremely
beneficial to their cognitive development. Although mothers can’t be around their children all the
time, the time they do spend together positively affects their development, which shows that
having their mother in the workforce is not harming the child in any way and in turn, benefits
them in more ways than one.
Effects of Having Two Incomes
One seemingly strong argument regarding maternal employment and child development
is the idea that your child will not be able to reach a high level of intelligence or education if you
spend your time working instead of with your child. The idea is that time spent with a mother is
extremely important in a child’s cognitive development, which is not untrue. But to go as far as
saying it is more important to have a mother at home than adding to the household income is a
fabricated statement. Though having a mother at home may increase a child’s cognitive
development until around the age of five, many studies have shown that the effects during
secondary school and higher education are significant. Logically, this makes sense. College is
expensive. More work equals more funds. Therefore, families with more money have a higher
chance of sending their children to college than their lower income counterparts. One study done
by Acemoglu and Pischke states that a “10% increase in income equals a 1.1% increase in the
chance of enrolling in any college and 1.5% increase in chance of enrolling in a 4-year college.”
Another study done by Ellwood and Kane found that “going from 1st quartile to 2nd quartile
equals a 10% greater chance for enrollment in a 4-year college and a 4% greater chance of

8. MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD GROWTH 7
enrolling in any post-secondary schooling.” Lastly, a study done by Susan E. Mayer, a Public
Policy Professor at the University of Chicago, found that doubling parental income will likely
increase the child’s cognitive test scores by almost 10% (Mayer).
Not only do two incomes affect the chances of continuing education after high
school graduation, social status has also been found to be passed down from generation to
generation. A study done by Wagmiller et al. found that children who never lived in a poor
socio-economic environment has an 84.2% chance of becoming employed, while children
who experiences long-term poor environments have a 65% chance of becoming employed.
It is important to remember that a large part of income has to do with the amount of
education one has received, so the more schooling a child has is normally positively
correlated with income after graduation.
Though having elite intellectual abilities is a special and important thing, those skills
cannot be furthered if one does not continue on with their education, whether it be at a
post-secondary level, or even high school. So before making the decision about whether to
stay home or remain working, the facts regarding chances of entering the college level
should be kept in mind.
Necessity of Work
There are many factors that lead into a mother being forced to work. It is often hard to
find concrete research because there are so many factors that change why a mother is working
after giving birth. The first thing that changes how long a mother stays out of work is if she is a
single parent. A single working mother may have to go back to work right away as there is no
other source of income in the household. Single working mothers often have to work harder than
they would normally would have to because they are in charge of everything. They often cannot

9. MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD GROWTH 8
find help and struggle to make sure their child and herself is being taken care of. There are many
other instances where there could be two parents but both do not make enough to sufficiently
supply for the family. A mother may have to go back to work in this case because more steady
income is needed. Another thing that causes mothers to continue to work is if their job will not
allow them adequate time to stay home without losing their job. There are many cases where
certain jobs do not allow mothers to have time off after having a child. This is a whole other
problem all together but shows how some things are unavoidable when facing maternal
employment. Through all these things, maternal employment does not have destructive
development concerns to the child. All of the studies incorporate many case by case situations
because it is all based off of how secure the family income is, if the mother is a single parent or
even if the mother cannot leave her job for fear of losing it.
Maternal Employment and Child Growth- is it Worth it?
Though many mothers all over the world are being forced to work over taking time with
their children, there are no detrimental effects to the development of the child. Since there is not
an easy way to answer the question of maternal employment and its effects, the concluding
research of this debate details how working mothers should be looked at. Through all the
research in teams, the evidence most strongly points in the direction of maternal employment
having no pernicious consequences to a developing child. In contempt of all of the compelling
arguments that suggest that mothers can be depressed, put the stress of work on their children
and the challenge of being more fatigued, a child that has a working mother will not face any
inimical ramifications later in life then a child who had a full-time parent at their disposal.
Concluded by all the main arguments pointed out, maternal employment allows for mothers to
avoid getting depression from being stuck at home, a higher quality of play time and the ability

10. MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD GROWTH 9
for more resources for the child later in life due to the contributions of the parents. Even in times
where necessity overrides choice, children of working mothers will develop and flourish as
thoroughly as those without. In conclusion, the majority of the research conducted allows for
children to have mothers who work and still be able to gain a full childhood.

11. MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILD GROWTH 10
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