This study examined how maternal employment status during the first year of a child’s life influenced later attachment quality. A sample of 1,364 mothers participated in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development was categorized into five groups including consistent working, transition to working, transition to nonworking, consistent nonworking, and multiple transitions. Results supported the hypothesized model by showing two interrelated mediating mechanisms of depressive symptoms and maternal sensitivity. Mothers who have not worked consistently and experienced transition to nonworking showed higher levels of depressive symptoms when compared with mothers who have worked consistently, which in turn negatively influenced maternal sensitivity. Tests of moderated mediation indicated that among nonworking mothers, only those with negative attitudes toward employment showed lower levels of depressive symptoms compared with the consistent working group. Findings suggest different mechanisms involved in the relationship between early maternal employment and the development of secure attachment.
AinsworthM. D. S.BleharM. C.WatersE.Wall,
5. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation.
Erlbaum.
2.
AllisonP. D. (2003).
Missing data techniques for structural equation modeling. Journal of Abnormal Psychology,
112(4), 545–557.
3.
AzarI. A. S.VasudevaP. (2006).
Self-efficacy and self-esteem: A comparative study of employed and unemployed married women in Iran. The German Journal of Psychiatry,
9(3), 111–117.
4.
BelskyJ. (1988).
The “effects” of infant day care reconsidered. Early Childhood Research Quarterly,
3(3), 235–272.
5.
BelskyJ. (2001).
Developmental risk associated with early child care. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,
42(7), 845– 860.
BowlbyS. R. (2008, January). Attachment theory: How to help young children acquire a secure attachment [Paper presentation]. Meeting of Attachment to the Quality of Childhood Group, Brussels, Belgium.
8.
BrendaM. Y. L.BonnieJ. K. (2009).
Perinatal depression: Prevalence, risks, and the nutrition link—A review of the literature. Journal of the American Dietetic Association,
109(9), 1566–1575.
9.
Brooks-GunnJ.HanW.WaldfogelJ. (2010).
First-year maternal employment and child development in the first 7 years.Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,
75(2), 1–147.
10.
BuehlerC.O’BrienM. (2011).
Mothers’ part-time employment: Associations with mother and family well-being. Journal of Family Psychology,
25(6), 895–906.
11.
CampbellS. B.CohnJ. F.MeyersT. (1995).
Depression in first-time mothers: mother–infant interaction and depression chronicity. Developmental Psychology,
31(3), 349–357.
12.
CassidyJ.MarvinR. S., & The MacArthur Working Group on Attachment of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Network on the Transition from Infancy to Early Childhood (1992). Attachment organization in preschool children: Procedures and coding manual. Unpublished coding manual. The Pennsylvania State University.
13.
ChangY. (2013).
The relation between mothers’ attitudes toward maternal employment and social competence of 36-month-olds: The roles of maternal psychological well-being and sensitivity. Journal of Child & Family Studies,
22(7), 987–999
14.
Del CarmenR.PedersenF. A.HuffmanL. C.BryanY. E. (1993).
Dyadic distress management predicts subsequent security of attachment. Infant Behavior & Development,
16(2), 131–147.
15.
DesaiS.Chase-LansdaleP.MichaelR. T. (1989).
Mother or market? Effects of maternal employment on the intellectual ability of 4-year-old children.Demography,
26(4), 545–561.
16.
FosterC. E.GarberJ.DurlakJ. A. (2008).
Current and past maternal depression, maternal interaction behaviors, and children’s externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology,
36(4), 527–537.
17.
GalinskyE.SakaiK.WigtonT. (2011).
Workplace flexibility: From research to action.The Future of Children,
21(2), 141–161.
18.
GartsteinM. A.IversonS. (2014).
Attachment security: The role of infant, maternal, and contextual factors. International Journal of Psychology & Psychological Therapy,
14(2), 261–276.
19.
GoldbergW. A.GreenbergerE.HamillS.O’NeilR. (1992).
Role demands in the lives of employed single mothers with preschoolers. Journal of Family Issues,
13(3), 312–333.
20.
GormanT. J. (2000).
Reconsidering worlds of pain: Life in the working class(es). Sociological Forum,
15(4), 693 – 717.
21.
GottfriedA. E.GottfriedA. W.BathurstK. (1988). Maternal employment, family environment, and children’s development: Infancy through the school years. In GottfriedA. E.GottfriedA. W. (Eds.), Maternal employment and children’s development: Longitudinal research (pp. 11–58).
Plenum.
22.
GreenbergerE.GoldbergW. A.CrawfordT. J.GrangerJ. (1988).
Beliefs about the consequences of maternal employment for children. Psychology of Women Quarterly,
12(1), 35–59.
23.
GreenbergerE.O’NeilR. (1990).
Parents’ concerns about their child’s development: Implication for fathers’ and mothers’ wellbeing and attitude toward work. Journal of Marriage and the Family,
52(3), 621–635.
24.
GreenbergerE.O’NeilR.NagelS. K. (1994).
Linking workplace and homeplace: Relations between the nature of adults’ work and their parenting behaviors. Developmental Psychology,
30(6), 990–1002.
25.
HerreraE.ReisslandN.ShepherdJ. (2004).
Maternal touch and maternal child-directed speech: Effects of depressed mood in the postnatal period. Journal of Affective Disorders,
81(1), 29–39.
26.
HockE.DeMeisD. K. (1990).
Depression in mothers of infants: The role of maternal employment. Developmental Psychology,
26(2), 283–291.
27.
HoffmanL. W. (1989).
Effects of maternal employment in the two-parent family. American Psychologist,
44(2), 283–292.
28.
HoffmanL. W.YoungbladeL. M. (1999). Mothers at work: Effects on children’s well-being.
Cambridge University Press.
29.
HustonA. C.AronsonS. R. (2005).
Mothers’ time with infant and time in employment as predictors of mother–child relationships and children’s early development. Child Development,
76(2), 467–482.
30.
HustonT.HolmesE. K. (2004). Becoming parents. In VangelistiA. (Ed.), Handbook of family communication (pp. 105–133).
Erlbaum.
31.
JaegerE.WeinraubM. (1990).
Early maternal care and infant attachment: In search of process. In McCartneyK. (Ed.), Child care and maternal employment: A social ecology (pp. 71–90).
Jossey-Bass.
32.
KahnH.CuthbertsonJ. (1998).
A comparison of self-reported mental and physical stress of working and full time home-maker mothers—a UK pilot study. Stress Medicine,
14(3), 149– 154.
33.
KarasekR.TheorellT. (1990). Healthy work: Stress productivity and the reconstruction of work life.
Basic Books.
34.
KeetonC. P.Perry JenkinsM.SayerA. G. (2008).
Sense of control predicts depressive and anxious symptoms across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Family Psychology,
22(2), 212–221.
35.
KimJ.WickramaK. S. (2014).
Mothers’ working status and infant development: Mediational processes. Journal of Family Issues,
35(11), 1473–1496.
36.
KleinM. H.HydeJ. S.EssexM. J.ClarkR. (1998).
Maternal leave, role quality, work involvement, and mental health one year after delivery. Psychology of Women Quarterly,
22(2), 239–266.
37.
KossekE. E. (2005). Workplace policies and practices to support work and families. In BianchiS. M.CasperL. M.KingB. R. (Eds.), Work, family, health, and well-being (pp. 97–115).
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
LawrenceT. B.CorwinV. (2003).
The Acceptance and marginalization of part-time professional employees. Journal of Organizational Behavior,
24(8), 923–943.
40.
LovejoyM. C.GraczykP. A.O’HareE.NeumanG. (2000).
Maternal depression and parenting behavior: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review,
20(5), 561–592.
41.
MasonC.CauceA.M.GonzalesN.HiragaY.GroveK. (1994).
An ecological model of externalizing in African American adolescents: No family is an island. Journal of Research on Adolescence,
4(4), 639–655.
42.
McElwainN. L.Booth-LaForceC. (2006).
Maternal sensitivity to infant distress and nondistress as predictors of infant–mother attachment security. Journal of Family Psychology,
20(2), 247–255.
43.
McGovernP.DowdB.GjerdingenD.MoscoviceI.KochevarL.LohmanW. (1997).
Time off work and the postpartum health of employed women. Medical Care,
35(5), 507–521.
44.
MenaghanE. G.ParcelT. L. (1991).
Determining children’s home environments: The impact of maternal characteristics and current occupational and family conditions. Journal of Marriage and Family,
53(2), 417–431.
45.
Mills-KoonceW. R.GariépyJ.PropperC.SuttonK.CalkinsS.MooreG.CoxM. (2007).
Infant and parent factors associated with early maternal sensitivity: A caregiver-attachment systems approach.Infant Behavior and Development,
30(1), 114–126.
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (1999).
Child-care and mother–child interaction in the first 3 years of life. Developmental Psychology,
35(6), 1399–1413.
48.
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2001).
Child-care and family predictors of preschool attachment and stability from infancy. Developmental Psychology,
37(6), 847–862.
49.
NomaguchiK. M. (2006).
Maternal employment, nonparental care, mother–child interactions, and child outcomes during preschool years. Journal of Marriage and Family,
68(5), 1341–1369.
50.
ParcelT. L.MenaghanE. G. (1994). Parents’ jobs and children’s lives.
Aldine de Gruyter.
51.
PaulsonJ.DauberS.LeifermanJ. (2006).
Individual and combined effects of postpartum depression in mothers and fathers on parenting behavior. Pediatrics,
118(2), 659–668.
52.
Perry-JenkinsMRepettiR. L.CrouterA. C. (2000).
Work and family in the 1990s. Journal of Marriage and the Family,
62(4), 981–998.
53.
Perry-JenkinsM.SmithJ. Z.GoldbergA. E.LoganJ. (2011).
Working-class jobs and new parents’ mental health. Journal of Marriage & Family,
73(5), 1117–1132.
54.
PettersonS. M.AlbersA. B. (2001).
Effects of poverty and maternal depression on early child development. Child Development,
72(6), 1974–1813.
55.
RadloffL. S. (1977).
The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement,
1(3), 385–401.
56.
RaoK. (2003).
Coping and subjective wellbeing in women with multiple roles. International Journal of Social Psychiatry,
49(3), 175–184.
57.
RepettiR. L.MatthewsK. A.WaldronI. (1989).
Employment and women’s health. American Psychologist,
44(11), 1394–1401.
58.
StifterC. A.CoulehanC. M.FishM. (1993).
Linking employment to attachment: The mediating effects of maternal separation anxiety and interactive behavior. Child Development,
64(5), 1451–1460.
VaughnB. E.GoveF. L.EgelandB. (1980).
The relationship between out-of-home care and the quality of infant-mother attachment in an economically disadvantaged population. Child Development,
51(4), 971–975.
61.
WeightJ. M.SolomonC. R. (2008).
Work–family management among low-wage service workers and assistant professors in the USA: A comparative intersectional analysis. Gender, Work, & Organization,
15(6), 621–649.
62.
WhitbeckL. B.SimonsR. L.CongerR. D.WickramaK. A. S.AckleyK. A.ElderG. H.Jr. (1997).
The effects of parents’ working conditions and family economic hardship on parenting behaviors and children’s self-efficacy. Social Psychology Quarterly,
60(4), 291–303.
