Effects of Maternal Employment on Child Development

Maternal Employment

• Mothers' labor force participation has increased dramatically in the past four decades, with over half of mothers of infants and children under six in the workforce.
• Working mothers often experience significant challenges, leading to potential consequences for their children in particular.
• Mothers working 30 hours or more per week may negatively impact their child's cognitive development by the age of nine months.

Effects of Early Childcare

• The quality of childcare significantly influences a child's development, with high-quality care having greater positive impact.
• While quality, quantity, stability, and type of childcare are all relevant factors, family characteristics play a bigger role in determining a child's overall development.

Maltreatment: Abuse and Neglect

• Physical abuse involves deliberate actions leading to potential bodily injury
• Neglect occurs when a dependent child's basic needs are not met
• Sexual abuse entails harmful, physically or psychologically, sexual activity involving a child and an older person.

Goodness of Fit

• The suitability of environmental demands and constraints to a child's temperament is crucial for well-being.

Behavioral Inhibition

• This trait reflects how boldly or cautiously a child approaches unfamiliar objects and situations.

Early Social Experiences: Family

• There is a rising number of non-traditional families, including single-parent households and same-sex couples.

The Mother's Role

• Harlow's monkey experiments highlighted the importance of comfort over food in attachment, proving that mothering involves more than feeding.
• Monkeys raised by cloth surrogates exhibited greater exploration but struggled with normal development and parenting skills.

The Father's Role

• The father's role varies across cultures and can be assumed by other family members like uncles or grandfathers.
• Fatherhood has undergone significant changes with fathers increasingly involved in childcare, impacting children's development positively.

Gender

• Gender impacts how individuals are perceived, behave, and interact with the world.

Gender Differences in Infants and Toddlers

• While measurable gender differences in infants and toddlers are minimal, early preferences for sex-typed toys and behaviors suggest innate biological influences.
• These preferences emerge early and are observed in nonhuman primates, suggesting a combination of innate and social factors.

Parental Influences on Gender Differences

• Parents generally use similar parenting styles, but unconsciously reinforce gender stereotypes through their actions and responses.
• Fathers tend to promote gender-typing more than mothers, engaging in rougher play with sons and being more sensitive with daughters.

Developing Trust

• Infants rely heavily on others for survival, leading to Erikson's theory focusing on trust vs. mistrust in the first stage of psychosocial development.

Trust vs. Mistrust

• Successful trust development results in a sense of reliability in people and objects, leading to feelings of safety and love.
• Failure leads to a perception of an unfriendly and unpredictable world, hindering the ability to form healthy relationships.

Developing Attachments

• Attachment is a crucial emotional bond between an infant and caregiver, crucial for the child's well-being.
• This bond is biologically predisposed and vital for survival by ensuring the baby's needs are met.

The Strange Situation

• This laboratory-based technique assesses attachment patterns between an infant and an adult, often the mother.

Secure Attachment

• Infants display flexibility and resilience in stressful situations.
• They may cry when the caregiver leaves but are quickly comforted upon their return.