Peer and teacher ratings of third- and fourth-grade children's social behavior as a function of early maternal employment.

Background: One of the more controversial issues related to maternal employment in the United States concerns the timing of entry into the workforce and its effect on children, particularly during the first year of the child's life. Some studies show deleterious effects on children, such as increases in aggression and noncompliance, while others document few negative and even positive effects of early employment.

Methods: This study examined the long-term effects of maternal employment during the child's first year of life on the social behavior of 171 third- and fourth-grade children in two-parent families. The moderating effects of child gender and social class were investigated. The extent to which stability in alternative care arrangements statistically explained links between early maternal employment and child outcomes was tested.

Results: After controlling for child gender, and maternal ethnicity, social class, and current employment status, third- and fourth-grade children whose mothers were employed during their first year of life evinced more acting out and less frustration tolerance and were nominated more often by peers for 'hitting' and 'being mean' than children whose mothers were not employed. There was some evidence that these associations were moderated by child gender and social class: boys, but not girls, whose mothers were employed during the first year were subsequently rated by teachers as acting out more than other children, and were also more likely to be nominated by peers for hitting. Higher nominations for hitting were only found in the working class. Finally, there was partial evidence that the number of alternative child-care arrangements during the first year accounted for the links between early maternal employment and subsequent child outcomes.

Conclusions: These results are congruent with extant research that posits a risk of early employment on socioemotional development, but show that this risk is partially attributable to child-care instability.