Children do better in school if their mother stays home for the first year

By LAURA CLARK, EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT

Mother's love: The report suggests that children can benefit if mothers postpone returning to work for a full year


Youngsters are less likely to succeed at school if their mothers return to work within a year of their birth, according to a major study.

Children of mothers who resume work during their first year of life end up faring worse in formal exams and show signs of being more disruptive.

The child’s success was particularly affected if the mother’s work was full-time, the study spanning five decades found.

The impact also varied dramatically according to class and whether the child was in a single-parent or two-parent household.

Children of middle-class and two-parent families were more likely to be affected negatively than those from working-class or single-parent families, according to the research.

Middle-class and upper-class youngsters suffer if their mothers return to work within their first three years. This was ‘significantly associated with decreases in formal measures of achievement’, it said.


This is because in wealthier families, the benefits of a mother working ‘may not outweigh the negative effects of decreased maternal attention and supervision and risk of poor-quality child care arrangements’.

The analysis of 69 separate studies carried out worldwide since 1960 concluded that overall, across all social classes, a mother returning to work within the first three years did not lead to reduced achievement at school or behavioural problems.

‘Taken together, the results suggest maternal employment early in a child’s life is not commonly associated with decreases in later achievement or increases in behaviour problems,’ it said. But it added the timing of the return to work was ‘important’.

‘Children may benefit if mothers are allowed to postpone a return to work until after the first year after birth,’ it concluded.

‘Somewhat later employment (years two and three) appeared to be advantageous for children’s achievement.’

Working full-time during a child’s first year – rather than reduced hours or not at all – may increase the risk of a child developing behavioural problems, it also emerged.

The study, by researchers at Macalester College, Minnesota, and the University of California, found the impact on children differed according to class and family structure.

Women from low-income or single-parent families tend to help their children by returning to work since this provides additional income and reduces stress.

Meanwhile youngsters from two-parent families whose mothers returned to work within three years were more likely to do worse at school than counterparts looked after at home.

The research was publicised yesterday by the Daycare Trust charity, which campaigns for affordable childcare and has called for mothers to be given a year’s paid parental leave. Anand Shukla, its acting chief executive, said the results showed it was wrong to say it was ‘bad for children’ when their mothers work.

‘We note in particular the benefits for both low income and lone parent families,’ he said. ‘But it is important parents are able to rely on high quality, affordable childcare.

‘Benefits of a year’s paid parental leave – which Daycare Trust has called for – are also borne out by this research.’

The findings follow years of studies into how mothers’ return to work impacts on children. One, at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at Essex University, found children tended to be slower developers, with poorer verbal skills, if their mothers return to work shortly after giving birth.


source: dailymail

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