The purpose of this study was to determine whether maternal employment contributed to the general inadequacy of the adolescent's evening meal, and to examine the attitudes of adolescents regarding the mother's role in evening meal preparation. A questionnaire was administered to 1180 high school students in a suburban area of Dallas-Ft.Worth in May, 1987. The hypotheses were tested using Chi square, Pearson product moment correlation, and Anova. Results indicated that maternal employment affects adolescent evening meals in the number of meals offered per week, fully prepared by mother, and eaten away from home. The amount of adolescent participation in meal preparation was higher for the employed group. Attitudes are different between the sexes and those with employed and unemployed mothers.

The purpose of this research was to determine if evening meal patterns and meal management decisions are related to the marital and employment status of mothers. Two hundred eighty-two usable questionnaires were completed by mothers who attended elementary school parent-teacher meetings in a suburban city in North Texas. The questionnaire gathered data about family demographics, family evening meal patterns, and factors affecting meal management decisions. Little difference was found between meal patterns of employed and nonemployed mothers in single and two-parent households. Factors found to affect meal pattern decisions were values, traditions, time, energy, nutrition, and family influence. A traditional family evening meal was important to the families studied.

The goal of this project was to explore associations between maternal and paternal employment around nine months after the birth of a child and child socioemotional, cognitive, and health outcomes at two and four years of age. Three research aims were addressed. Aim One: To Examine Associations Between Maternal Employment And Child Outcomes Findings indicated that few links exist between maternal full and part time employment (compared to no employment) and child outcomes at two and four years. A series of home and family process variables were also analyzed to determine whether they served as significant mediators or offsetting variables in the association between employment and child outcomes. Although there was some variation by outcome, generally full and part time maternal employment was linked with more maternal knowledge of child development, less maternal depression, more maternal income, better attachment classification, and a higher quality home environment. Each of these process variables were, in turn, linked with positive child outcomes. On the other hand, full and part time maternal employment was also associated with less time spent with the child, which was associated with poorer child outcomes. Full and part time maternal employment was linked with greater participation in nonparental child care, which was associated with both better and worse child outcomes, varying by type of care and the specific outcome. Compared to non-working mothers, full time employment was linked with a shorter duration in breastfeeding, while part time employment was linked with a longer duration in breastfeeding. Duration of breastfeeding was associated with better child outcomes at age two. Lastly, the number of well child visits was not found to be a significant pathway between maternal employment and child outcomes. It appeared that positive and negative pathways existed, and in most cases balanced out to a non significant direct effect of employment on outcomes. Aim Two: To Examine Associations Between Parental Employment And Child Outcomes Findings from the second study indicated that, compared to children with a non working mother and full time working father, children with two full time working parents displayed more illness by age two. At age four, compared to children with a non working mother and full time working father, children with a part time working mother and a father with part time or no work showed less engagement of a parent. Children with a part time working mother and full time working father, children with a part time working mother and part time or non working father, and children with two full time working parents displayed more externalizing behavior. A series of home and family process variables were analyzed to determine their role as mediators or offsetting variables in the association between parental employment and child outcomes. Although there was some variation by outcome, generally the employment groups that included a full time working father and a part or full time working mother fared best on process variables. These groups were associated with more mother and father knowledge of child development, less maternal depression, more use of child care, more income, more maternal sensitivity, and a better home environment. These process variables were, in turn, associated with better child outcomes. On the other hand, those families with a non working mother and a part time or non working father generally fared worst on process variables. This group was associated with less mother and father knowledge of child development, more maternal and paternal depression, a lower quality home environment, less income, less months breastfed, and lower maternal sensitivity. These process variables were generally associated with poorer child outcomes at ages two and/or four. Aim Three: To Examine the Mediating Role Of Child Care Quality In The Association Between First-Year Parental Employment And Child Outcomes At Age Four Results indicated that overall there were associations between employment and child care, but few and inconsistent links between child care type and quality and child outcomes. The child outcomes for which some types of child care served as a significant pathway for parent employment were math ability, reading ability, engagement of the parent, and expressive language. High quality center-based care, high quality relative care, and high quality non-relative care were all positively linked with at least one child outcome measured at age four. However, low quality center based care was also positively linked with both math ability and engagement of the parent. The positive link with math was surprising, particularly in the absence of a positive link between high quality center-based care and math ability, which was expected based on previous findings. Engagement of the parent was the only socioemotional outcome with a positive link with parental employment though child care. The pathway emerged through both high and low quality, center-based settings. Because of the large groups and decreased one-on-one time with an adult, center-based care, at the onset of the study, was expected to have a negative link with socioemotional outcomes. No links with child health were found.

王燦妮. / "2008年9月". / "2008 nian 9 yue". / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Wang Canni. / 論文摘要 / Chapter 第一章 --- 引言 --- p.1-10 / Chapter 1、 --- 硏究背景 / Chapter ´Ø --- 「母職」實踐的不平等現象 / Chapter ´Ø --- 以女性爲主要觀眾的電視劇文化 / Chapter 2、 --- 硏究目的及重要性 / Chapter ´Ø --- 電視劇中的角色隱現 / Chapter ´Ø --- 大眾傳播與個人性別實踐 / Chapter 3、 --- 論文結構 / Chapter 第二章 --- 文獻回顧及理論框架 --- p.11-26 / Chapter 1、 --- 女性主義中的「母職」硏究 / Chapter 2、 --- 電視劇中的性別 / Chapter ´Ø --- 再呈現的刻板形象 / Chapter ´Ø --- 符號消亡 / Chapter 3、 --- 電視劇與女性觀眾 / Chapter ´Ø --- 媒體製碼 / Chapter ´Ø --- 觀眾解碼 / Chapter ´Ø --- 電視劇對女性觀眾產生的作用 / Chapter 第三章 --- 硏究設計 --- p.27-36 / Chapter 1、 --- 硏究問題 / Chapter 2、 --- 硏究方法及抽樣原則 / Chapter ´Ø --- 文本分析 / Chapter ´Ø --- 觀眾訪問 / Chapter 第四章 --- 硏究結果及分析 / Chapter 1、 --- 「雙職婦女」在電視劇中的形象特色 --- p.37-50 / Chapter ´Ø --- 平凡中的不平凡 / Chapter ´Ø --- 刻板形象的包裝 / Chapter 2、 --- 時代背景和角色轉變的關係 --- p.51-74 / Chapter ´Ø --- 八十年代´ؤ´ؤ不受重視 / Chapter ´Ø --- 九十年代´ؤ´ؤ單親當道 / Chapter ´Ø --- 千禧年代´ؤ´ؤ價値回歸 / Chapter 3、 --- 不同類別的女性觀眾對該類電視劇的觀感 --- p.75-91 / Chapter ´Ø --- 接受、抗拒或妥協 / Chapter ´Ø --- 緊扣生活中的「母職」經驗 / Chapter ´Ø --- 「雙職婦女」的宏觀現象 / Chapter 第五章 --- 總結 --- p.92-95 / 參考資料

From 1948 to 2015, there was a dramatic increase of mothers in the workforce. The literature demonstrates that mothers tend to work outside of the home while also maintaining most of the domestic roles. However, the literature does not address how these women are able to balance their roles. There is a gap in the literature concerning the relationship between locus of control, perceived supportive factors, income size, and work-life balance for working mothers. The purpose of this cross-sectional quantitative study was to fill that gap as measured by Rotter's Internal- External Control Scale, Satisfaction with Work and Family Balance Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), income size, and demographic information. The work and family border theory and the social learning theory were used as the theoretical frameworks. This online study used Facebook to recruit 164 working mothers between the ages of 18-50 with children under the age of 18. Correlations, t tests, and linear regressions were used to analyze the data. The results showed no significant relationship between loci of control on work-life balance. However, perceived support was associated with work-life balance and predicting work-life balance. This study is intended for employers, program developers, and mental health professionals in their efforts to support working mothers in gaining work-life balance. The social change implications of this study are to increase understanding of work-life balance, reduce mental health risks associated with imbalance, decrease job dissatisfaction, absenteeism, isolation, and increase universality and normalcy of the working mother experience.

This paper investigates certain women's problems in contemporary Japan. Historically, Japanese believed ideal women fit in the stereotype of "Good wife, Wise mother." Japanese women's main roles were regarded as wife and mother. Especially, motherhood was the main responsibility of women. However, the advance of industry, technology, and methods of communication brought more possibilities to women, strongly encouraging them to work outside the home. Although the trend is towards women's involvement in the paid labor force, there are still controversial issues about mothers working. The stereotypes that underlie these problems cause others to be working mothers and some women to be stay-at-home mothers. I focused on two groups of women, working mothers and stay-at- home mothers. I started with three major questions in order to investigate contemporary women's perceptions. Firstly, what caused mothers to decide to either stay home or work outside the home? Types of jobs women have before childbirth, company policies, and ideas their husbands have are key factors. Lack of governmental support for childcare hinders women from working. Stereotypical ideas toward motherhood make contemporary women's situations difficult. Secondly, are there stereotypical Japanese social perceptions that are significant influences on conditions that women face? Especially in the work situation, in terms of motherhood, women do face gender discrimination. Thirdly, how do these women cope with the consequences of choices they make? Both working mothers and stay-at-home mothers find social connections a key factor in getting rid of stress from childrearing. The amount of time husbands spend with families greatly influences their wives' stress. Based on traditional gender based role division, women still have unequal domestic responsibilities, especially in childrearing. However, domestic responsibilities should be both men's and women's tasks. Men and women should cooperate with each other because contemporary Japan is not in a time of "men at work, women at home." Results obtained through this research, indicate that the traditional idea of "Good wile, Wise mother" has become outdated. Contemporary mothers value "self" equally with roles of mother and wife. The traditional idea of "sacrifice self" does not seem to be attractive or ideal for today's mothers. / Graduation date: 2002

This dissertation traces the formation, development, and deployment of arguments in favor of maternal employment from the years before World War II through the mid-1990s. Drawing on academic journals, popular periodicals, government documents, feminist writings, and the personal papers of researchers, policy makers, and activists, I argue that defenses of maternal employment have taken two main forms: economic and psychosocial. Although both types appeared throughout this period, the relative influence of each waxed and waned. As a result of the legacy of depression and war mobilization, economic arguments predominated in the immediate postwar years. After a decade of sustained national growth and the rising influence of psychology and sociology, however, arguments that stressed the psychological and social benefits of working mothers became increasingly prominent. The trend reversed again in the 1970s as the economy stagnated and hostility toward the welfare state mounted. The content of these two types of arguments also changed over time. Defenses of maternal employment that were rooted in and justified by the concept of shared national good in postwar America were reframed, by the 1990s, in terms of the economic self-interest of individual taxpayers and employers. During the 1940s and 1950s, proponents of maternal employment suggested that it helped expand the middle class and foster children’s independence. Feminists in the early 1960s drew on these claims to challenge hostility toward mothers in the labor force. By the early 1970s, they hoped that working mothers, by undermining traditional sex role socialization, would help remake, rather than preserve, society. At the same time, a new set of economic claims about working mothers, based in free market economic thought, began to gain strength. Politicians attacked welfare policies that enabled poor mothers to be full-time homemakers, while some feminists tried to persuade corporations that they had financial, rather than moral, incentives for hiring and retaining mothers. The vision of the broader social good that had characterized earlier arguments for maternal employment was gone. This helps explain why, even as rates of maternal employment skyrocketed, national work/family policies in the United States have remained the weakest in the developed world. / History

In 2000, 79 percent of married Canadian women between the ages of 25 and 44 were in the labour force and 75 percent were employed.1 Many Canadian families with working parents use costly child-care, and many of these families take advantage of the child-care expense deduction (CCED): in 1998, 71 percent of families with pre-school children used child-care services to work or study at a given point in time,2 and 868,460 taxfilers reported nearly $2.4 billion in child-care expenditures on 1,390,200 children.3 In this thesis, I examine the effects of parental labour supply and child-care use on children, the impacts that child-care costs have on the labour supply of married mothers, and the fairness of the tax system with respect to child-care costs. Chapters I, and V are introductory and concluding chapters, respectively. In chapter II, I consider the question of whether parental labour supply and child-care use affect child cognitive and behavioural outcomes. Parental labour supply reduces the amount of time parents have for their children. On the other hand, parents can replace their own time with child-care services and can also purchase more market goods with additional income earned at work. I examine this question using the first three cycles of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), which provide both a large sample size and a rich source of data, including controls for parenting skills. The possible joint detennination of labour supply and child outcomes is also tested. In chapter III, I estimate the impact of child-care costs on the return to work of married Canadian women with children under three, using data from the 1988 Canadian National Childcare Survey (CNCCS) and Labour Market Activity Survey (LMAS). Data from the 1995 Canadian General Social Survey indicate that Canadian mothers have split views on the issue of whether parental labour supply has deleterious effects on child outcomes. Furthermore, women's views on these issues tend to be consistent with their labour supply, suggesting their views may affect whether they choose to work or not. If women's preferences for work are based on thenviews and are correlated with other explanatory variables such as education and cost of care, the estimated coefficients on these explanatory variables will be biased. In order to allow for these potential differences in responsiveness to childcare costs, I estimate separate models where current or previous occupation and weeks worked in the previous 12 months are used as control variables in the estimation to account for heterogeneity of preferences. In chapter IV of the thesis, I use data from the CNCCS and LMAS to examine the vertical and horizontal equity of the CCED. Vertical equity is evaluated by comparing CCED benefit rates for different family levels of earnings. This is done for dual earner families with childcare costs and similar characteristics. Horizontal equity is examined by investigating whether the existence of the CCED increases or decreases the difference between effective tax rates of families with similar earnings but different labour supplies. I use measures of actual and potential earnings to evaluate both vertical and horizontal equity.

Submitted in full compliance with the requirements for a Master’s Degree in Technology: Nursing, Department of Community Health Studies at the Durban University of Technology, 2009. / Purpose: Breastfeeding is a key child survival strategy important for the long-term health of both the mother and child. The number of women in paid employment has increased exponentially, yet very few of these women continue breastfeeding as recommended by the World Health Organisation. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the factors affecting breastfeeding practices in the workplace. Objectives of the study are to: 1: Describe managers’ attitudes to and knowledge about providing breastfeeding support. 2: Identify mothers’ attitudes towards breastfeeding and the workplace environment. 3: Describe the practices of the breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. 4: Identify factors that influence breastfeeding practices within the workplace environment Method The theoretical frameworks adopted were the Situation- Specific Theory of Breastfeeding and the BASNEF model. The frameworks together with the literature review provided the background which informed this study. The research was a case study of two multi -national companies in Durban, KwaZulu Natal; participants were mothers and managers in the companies. Purposive sampling was used for selecting eight women who participated in the focus groups, two follow up interviews were conducted and five managers were interviewed. Data collection techniques also included a reflexive journal and field observation. After a thorough review of the data, the main themes which emerged were used to guide the discussion and answer the objectives of the study. Results The two companies reflected a scenario of pressures in the workplace environment affecting women’s choices regarding combining work and breastfeeding; societal pressures were dictating acceptable behaviour. Breastfeeding was not a priority for employers, no breastfeeding policy existed. Breastfeeding mothers were isolated and employers and employees were not engaging on the issue. Conclusions and Recommendations Simple enabling factors within the workplace would allow mothers, their infants and employers to enjoy the benefits of supporting breastfeeding in the workplace; this would be a win-win situation. Government, non-governmental organisations and society have a responsibility to overtly protect, support and promote breastfeeding in society and in the workplace.

Parental involvement has been identified as a targeted strategy to improve the academic achievement of children, and thus, educational reform policies and efforts have been created and implemented within the schools in order to bridge the achievement gap. Most educational reform efforts concerning parental involvement have focused on the involvement of parents from lower socioeconomic status and various ethnic and racial groups, including single mothers across these categories. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to understand how single working Black mothers became involved in their children’s education, the reasons why they were involved, and how they constructed their identity and meaning of an involved parent in their children’s education. In an attempt to move beyond the traditional models of parental involvement that place heavy emphasis on the presence of parents within the schools, this study aimed to recognize the efforts of mothers as they relate to their children’s overall growth and development within their homes and community in order to reconceptualize the meaning of parental involvement. / Department of Educational Studies