the Future Financial Freedom group

A US economic study* has found that most mothers who go out to work, DO NOT harm their children's development UNLESS they are RICH!

The research found "large negative effects" on children from wealthier families which included a substantial drop in educational attainment, and a greater risk of obesity. "It may be a mistake to exclusively focus on work during the earliest years.." the report concluded.

Reasons to be cheerful

• The North Carolina study analysed children aged about 10 on a set of variables, including three assessments of cognitive skill, two indicators of "socioemotional development", and two measures of excess body weight.
• For the most part, it saw little cause for concern among working mothers.
• Although there were some slightly negative trends in the children of working mothers, most of these differences were negligible and occurred mainly among mothers who worked extremely long hours.
• As the study pointed out, even though some 90% of mothers work during their child's first nine years, only 15% put in more than 35 hours per week.

Further to fall

• The situation was far more grave among the wealthiest working mothers, however.
• According to its calculations, an extra 20 hours worked a week among the top income quartile did significant damage to a child's academic performance.
• On average, such children were knocked down from the 66th educational percentile to below the 60th.
• And the percentage of overweight children rose to 20% among the wealthiest quartile, from less than 15% in families where the mother stayed at home.

Time troubles

• There are a number of possible explanations for the sharp divergence on grounds of wealth.
• First, wealthier women are more likely to opt for stressful jobs with long hours.
• Second, lower-income mothers can benefit their families by working and bringing in extra income; for the rich, the woman's pay does not necessarily translate into an increase in already-high living standards.
• Third, the report suggests that lower-income mothers are likely to be "time-constrained" whether or not they work, meaning that the decision to take a job does not alter the fundamental situation much. A wealthy mother, who can spend lots of time with her children because she pays others to do domestic chores, will find the new schedule more of a wrench.

You wonder where the expression "dumb little rich kid" comes from...

*Maternal Employment and Adolescent Development, NBER working paper, Christopher Ruhm, University of North Carolina, Greensboro.