Parents' long hours may harm kids
By EVELYN YAMINE
16Jan02
The Daily Telegraph
PARENTS who work long hours to support their children financially may be
harming their child's psychological development according to research undertaken
in the US.
The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth released this month in the journal Developmental
Psychology highlights the short and long term effects of early parental
employment on children.
Compliance, behaviour problems, cognitive development, self-esteem and academic achievement were monitored with mixed results.
The survey found early parental employment positively affects children's development by increasing family income.
But working more hours was linked with slightly lower cognitive development for children up to the age of nine and slightly lower academic achievement scores for children under seven.
The study focuses on maternal employment based on how many weeks after their child's birth they returned to work and the average hours they worked per week during the first three years of their children's lives.
It showed that mothers who return to work in the first three to four years of their child's life risk dealing with children with behaviour problems, such as chronic disobedience.
There were no significant effects of fathers returning to work early in a child's life.
Professor Dianna Kenny, from the University of Sydney, said although the study was conducted in the US, the results could be considered universal.
She said the study highlighted two critical factors – the number of hours that parents work and the quality of alternative care for children.
"It shouldn't matter how many hours the mother spends working, as long as she spends a reasonable amount of quality time with her children, then there shouldn't be many adverse effects," she said.
"It really depends on the quality of parenting the child receives from mothers and fathers and alternative carers like day care centres and pre-schools.
"When parents walk into their home at the end of a working day, it's time for their other life. It's time to leave their work worries behind and spend quality time with their children," Professor Kenny said.
Carol MacDougall and husband David Paget both work and have two children Ryan, 3 and Emma, 1. Ms MacDougall does not believe working has negatively affected her children.
"They are at day care three days a week and we spend a lot of time with them. We don't have any major problems with them . . . I think they're normal average kids," she said.
Professor Alan Hayes, from Macquarie University, said the many studies had been conducted on this subject but this one had the most positive results.
"It shows that there are very few robust effects of mother's working compared to previous years . . . past studies showed that the children suffered more when mothers worked.
"Although there is still minor effects on children when they work longer hours, this is one of the most positive studies I have seen in relation to this subject," he Hayes said.
The research involved 12,600 individuals interviewed annually since 1979 when they were 14 to 22 years old.
This report appears on www.news.com.au.