How mothers matter: The influence of maternal labor force participation on familial social capital, education-related spending for children, and children's participation in cultural and educational activities

I put forth and evaluate three pathways through which aspects of maternal employment may affect children's lives. I explore the links between: (1) mothers' occupational experiences and the generation of familial social capital within the home; (2) maternal income and family spending on education-related goods and services for children; and (3) mothers' labor content and labor time and children's participation in cultural and educational activities. In investigating these three linkages I move past much of the existing research to show how the occupational experiences mothers encounter in the labor force condition the effects of maternal employment on children's lives. Specifically, three main findings emerge. First, mothers employed in high-complexity occupations generate greater amounts of social capital than mothers who are employed in low-complexity occupations. Second, spending on children's education increases as mothers' share of the total family income increases. Finally, mothers' labor content exerts a positive effect on children's participation in cultural and educational activities, outweighing the negative effect of maternal work hours on children's cultural and educational participation. Taken together these results demonstrate that in the presence of specific employment experiences, maternal employment may exert a net positive effect on children's lives. In light of these findings I argue that present concerns about the potentially negative effects of maternal employment for children may be overstated. I conclude by discussing the theoretical implications of my findings for the existing literatures on maternal employment, gender stratification, and educational attainment and by offering suggestions for future research concerned with the processes through which maternal employment may affect children's lives.