A recent study by Brooks-Gunn et al. (2010) has concluded that the benefits related to going out to work may balance out any harm to children in such situations. The study analysed data from the American NICHD study, calculating the total effect of maternal employment – taking into account all factors related to being a working mother like income, qualities as a parent, and high quality child care. Taking the advantages and disadvantages into account, they found that the net effect is neutral. They looked specifically at maternal employment during a child’s first year and found that the more important factors are those related to the quality of parenting and children’s experiences of child care, rather than the absence or presence of a mother.
Posts tagged with NICHD
Just a quick evaluation nugget for you. Fraley and Spieker (2003) have found that classifying infants by type may not be accurate. The researchers looked at data recorded for over 1000 children involved in the NICHD study. The data had been collected from observations made in the strange situation. The re-analysis showed that variations in patterns was largely continuous i.e. children didn’t possess a cluster of characteristics typical of one particular category. Instead they differed along various dimensions such as response to mother’s return.This challenges any research which has categorised children as secure, insecure-resistant or insecure-avoidant because such exclusive categories don’t represent reality, according to this research. Fraley, R. C., & Spieker, S. J. (2003). Are infant attachment patterns continuously or categorically distributed? A taxometric analysis of strange situation behavior. Developmental Psychology, 39, 387-404.
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