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Title: The Impact of Maternal Employment on Child's Mental Health: Evidence from the NLSY-Child
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Mukherjee, Sumanta
Fink, Guenther
The Impact of Maternal Employment on Child's Mental Health: Evidence from the NLSY-Child
Presented: Chicago, IL, Southern Economic Association Annual Meetings, November 20-23, 2008
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Southern Economic Association
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Children, Behavioral Development; Children, Mental Health; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Depression (see also CESD); Maternal Employment

An extensive literature has analyzed the effect of a mother's employment on the cognitive outcomes of her children. However, the role of maternal employment in a child's noncognitive development has received comparatively scant attention. In this paper, data on a panel of children aged four through fifteen are analyzed to explore the effect of maternal employment on a child's mental health outcomes. Using ordinary least squares and fixed effects estimates, we find that mothers who spend more time at home have children with fewer emotional problems: they score lower on the behavioral problems index; they are also less likely to be frequently unhappy or depressed. In addition, children with mothers spending more time at home are less likely to hurt someone, steal something, or skip school. We test and confirm the robustness of our results by using involuntary job losses as alternative identification strategy.
Bibliography Citation
Mukherjee, Sumanta and Guenther Fink. "The Impact of Maternal Employment on Child's Mental Health: Evidence from the NLSY-Child." Presented: Chicago, IL, Southern Economic Association Annual Meetings, November 20-23, 2008.