In this study, I extend the scholarship on maternal employment and the allocation of household resources by evaluating the effects of mothers? time spent in the labor force and mothers? relative income on children?s cognitive development. I use a gendered resource allocation model that recognizes differences in investment preferences between men and women and how women can use increases in their relative earnings to direct greater amounts of family resources towards enrichment goods and services that promote child well-being. Support for this model comes mostly from research conducted outside of the United States. This study contributes to this research literature by using an American sample drawn from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. In addition, I contribute to the research on maternal employment and child outcomes with a longitudinal analysis of children?s cognitive development trajectories from age five to 14. I find some negative effects on children?s initial levels of cognitive skills for measures of both early and current maternal employment hours. Some of these effects are moderated by race, the supportiveness of children?s home environment, and mothers? cognitive skills. Contrary to predictions from a gendered resource allocation model, I find that children?s cognitive development is lowest in households in which mothers? and fathers? incomes approximate parity, likely because of a lack of clear specialization in such households. I discuss these findings in terms of theoretical, research, and policy applications.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-03222007-133600 |
| Date | 06 April 2007 |
| Creators | Wills, Jeremiah B |
| Contributors | Theodore N. Greenstein, Maxine P. Atkinson, Feinian Chen, Richard Della Fave |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-03222007-133600/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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