• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.111-122
• /
• 2009

The relations of mothers' attitudes regarding maternal employment to mothers' psychological well-being, mothers' parenting sensitivity and children's social competence were examined for mothers who worked full-time (extensively) from age 6 months of their children on, mothers who were not employed, and mothers who worked part-time or inconsistently during their children's early years. Longitudinal observations of 1,034 mothers and children in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care from age one month to first grade were analyzed using structural equation models. As predicted, mothers and children benefited when maternal attitudes were consistent with mother's actual employment status. Among extensively employed mothers, those with positive attitudes about employment had better psychological well-being; among mothers who were not employed, those who believed that maternal employment would have negative consequences for children's development reported better psychological well-being. The findings suggested that whether the mother's status of employment is congruent with their beliefs, not whether the mother is working or not, predicted the mother's well-being and their child's social development.