Effects of maternal employment on lower-class boys.

Repeated direct observations of 149 boys from 140 intact, lower-class families during a period of approximately 5 years were used to check differences in family structure and child rearing techniques of 45 working and 95 nonworking mothers. Comparisons showed no statistically significant differences in social status, father's stability, parental dominance, or emotional tone of parental interaction. The effect of maternal employment on personality development seemed largely dependent on the family milieu: (a) In stable homes, maternal employment appears to decrease the father's status and sibling rivalry and to increase sexual anxiety. (b) In unstable homes, maternal employment tends to decrease the father's status and sibling rivalry while increasing dependency and criminality. The authors conclude that maternal employment has different meanings to the child in stable as compared to unstable homes: in the former, it appears only to equalize status between the sexes and make sex role adjustment more difficult; in the latter, it may be interpreted by the child as rejection. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)