Maternal Working Hours and the Well-Being of Adolescent Children

25 Pages Posted: 6 Sep 2014 Last revised: 3 Sep 2024

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Abstract

This study investigates how maternal working hours are related to various outcomes in children aged 11 to 15 using a sample of mothers and adolescents in the British Household Panel Survey. Research that examines the effects of maternal employment on children has been motivated by the rapid increase of female participation rates in the labour market and increased shares of children living in female-headed or single-mother households. The existing literature on this issue is very limited, mostly based on American data, and provides conflicting results. Fixed effects have been used in the present analysis to control for characteristics of children and families that do not vary over time.The results suggest that full-time maternal employment (as opposed to part-time) has little or no effect on the propensity of adolescents to smoke, their life satisfaction, self-esteem, or intention to leave school at 16. These results are stable and consistent across various specifications of the model and different socio-economic status.

Keywords: adolescent well-being, maternal working hours, children smoking

JEL Classification: I10, J13, J22

Suggested Citation

Mendolia, Silvia, Maternal Working Hours and the Well-Being of Adolescent Children. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8391, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2492398

Silvia Mendolia (Contact Author)

University of Aberdeen ( email )

Dunbar Street
Aberdeen, Scotland AB24 3QY
United Kingdom
0044 1224 272182 (Phone)

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