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Does Maternal Involvement Have A Negatice Effect On Child Development

CADV 150, 2PM class
15 November 2004
Wakefield
Does Maternal Employment Have a Negative Effect on Child Development?
Section 1: The Controversy
Many factors shape and affect the development of a child. One such factor is the role the parents play. As the primary care takers, the choices they make affect not only themselves, but their children as well. For this reason, the effect of maternal employment has on the children is a widely debated topic that has caused clashing views of the eventual implications.
In the past, the issue of maternal employment was something that was never really thought of. The primary role of the mothers revolved around the domestic chores of the household, which included her responsibility to the children. In fact, the thought of mothers working was almost unheard of, especially before and during the 50s. As the years progressed, however, mothers grew more and more independent, and thus by the 1960s, women made the transition from homemaker to working mother. Mothers were now able to rake in the dough, so to speak, and create their own income to support the family. With this new idea, people seemed to grow concerned as to what kind of affect maternal employment would have on the children. Because of this growing concern, they found that the implications was, and still is, not only a question of whether mothers should or should not hold jobs outside of the home, but also what kind of contexts the child is raised in. To help decide on the outcome of maternal employment, researchers has factored in many other variables ranging from the child's age to how much support a father give. One cannot simply label or condemn a child as "difficult" or "impossible" simply because the mother has a job. The overall effect includes not only how the child is being treated outside his mother's care, but also what emotions and feelings is he constantly surrounded by when in the presence of his mother.
Researchers within the...