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Title: Stability and Change in Children's Home Environments: The Effects of Parental Occupational Experiences and Family Conditions
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Menaghan, Elizabeth G.
Parcel, Toby L.
Stability and Change in Children's Home Environments: The Effects of Parental Occupational Experiences and Family Conditions
Presented: Seattle, WA, Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 1991
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Birthweight; General Assessment; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Household Composition; Locus of Control (see Rotter Scale); Maternal Employment; Pearlin Mastery Scale; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pre/post Natal Health Care; Self-Esteem

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This study examined the effects of mothers' and fathers' occupational conditions on children's home environments, and of change in occupational and family conditions on change in home environments. The study used the 1986 and 1988 supplements to the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth. Subjects were 781 married mothers with children aged 3 through 6 years in 1986. For mothers in dual-earner families, home environment was affected by mothers': (1) self-esteem and sense of mastery; (2) age (for older mothers); (3) work at a complex occupation; (4) marriage to a highly educated spouse; (5) having fewer children. Improvements over time in children's home environment were affected by spouse's occupational characteristics and age (for spouses who were younger). Declines in home environments occurred when additional children were born or the marriage ended. For mothers in male-earner families who were not employed in 1986, predictors of home environments were similar to those for mothers in families with two earners, with the exception that mothers' cognitive resources and spouses' wage level also had positive effects. Improvements in home environment in this group were also responsive to spouse's working conditions and changes in family circumstances. A list of references is included. ED337292
Bibliography Citation
Menaghan, Elizabeth G. and Toby L. Parcel. "Stability and Change in Children's Home Environments: The Effects of Parental Occupational Experiences and Family Conditions." Presented: Seattle, WA, Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 1991.