Child Development

infant during the workweek, they are more highly in-
teractive when with them. The studies of attachment
have produced mixed results, complicated by mea-
surement difficulties. Most studies found mothers’
employment status unrelated to the quality of the
mother-infant attachment, but a few found that
attachment was less secure when the mother was em-
ployed full-time. The most extensive investigation of
these issues is an ongoing study conducted by a team
of researchers under the auspices of the National In-
stitute of Child Health and Human Development
(NICHD). In this study, as reported in 1997, neither
the child’s age at the onset of employment nor the
amount of nonmaternal care was found to be related
to the security of attachment. What was important was
the quality of the mother-child interaction and partic-
ularly the mother’s sensitivity to the child’s needs.

Nonmaternal Care

When mothers are employed, there are often
times when both school-age and preschool children
need nonmaternal care. A considerable amount of re-
search has been conducted on the effects of non-
maternal care on preschoolers. Previous research on
the effects of daycare indicated that although the day-
care experience was often associated with higher cog-
nitive competence, it was also associated with less
compliance and more assertiveness with peers. The
NICHD study, as reported in 1998, found that the
major variables predicting children’s negativity were
the mother’s sensitivity and her psychological adjust-
ment. Both higher quality of nonmaternal care and
greater experience in groups with other children pre-
dicted socially competent behavior. It was also the
case, however, that more time in child care and less
stable care predicted problematic and noncompliant
behavior. On the whole, the results indicated that the
home environment is the major influence on child
outcomes, but that the quality and stability of the non-
maternal care does have an effect.

When children are of school age, working fami-
lies still have to deal with issues of control and super-

vision when work hours and school hours do not

overlap. An increasing number of schools and com-

munity organizations have responded by setting up

after-school and before-school programs as well as su-

pervised lunchrooms. Neighbors, relatives, and older

siblings often fill in. Some children, however, return

from school to an empty house. The effects of such

unsupervised care vary widely depending on whether

the child stays in the home and is governed by set

rules and telephone contact, where the child spends

this time if not in the home, and the safety of the

neighborhood. For children of all ages, however, the

prevalence of working families has brought with it a

need for community programs and affordable, stable,

high-quality nonparental care—a need that has not

yet been met. This is an important social issue that

needs to be addressed given that most families today

are working families.

See also: LATCHKEY CHILDREN; PARENT-CHILD

RELATIONSHIPS; SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES

Bibliography

Bond, James T., Ellen Galinsky, and Jennifer E. Swanberg. 1997

National Study of the Changing Workforce. New York: Families

and Work Institute, 1998.

Clarke-Stewart, Alison. ‘‘Infant Day Care: Maligned or Malig-

nant?’’ American Psychologist 44 (1989):266–273.

Hoffman, Lois W., and Lise M. Youngblade. Mothers at Work: Effects

on Children’s Well-Being. New York: Cambridge University

Press, 1999.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Early

Child Care Research Network. ‘‘The Effects of Infant Child

Care on Mother-Infant Attachment Security: Results of the

NICHD Study of Early Child Care.’’ Child Development 68

(1997):860–879.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Early

Child Care Research Network. ‘‘Early Child Care and Self-

Control, Compliance, and Problem Behavior at Twenty-Four

and Thirty-Six Months.’’ Child Development 69 (1998):1145–

1170.

Warr, Peter, and Glenys Parry. ‘‘Paid Employment and Women’s

Psychological Well-Being.’’ Psychological Bulletin 91

(1982):498–516.

Lois Wladis Hoffman

440 WORKING FAMILIES