Employment Patterns of Less-Skilled Workers: Links to Children S Behavior and Academic Progress

Online Supplement

Employment Patterns of Less-Skilled Workers: Links to Children’s Behavior and Academic Progress

Rucker C. Johnson, Ariel Kalil, and Rachel E. Dunifon

Data Appendix

Child Outcome Measures

The WES survey contained a subset of items from the Behavioral Problems Index (BPI) described in Chase-Lansdale et al. (1991). Unfortunately, due to space constraints, the WES did not include the entire 28-item BPI at each wave. The items in these scales ask the mother to report on the child’s behavior as she has observed it over the past three months. Mothers respond whether these behaviors are not true (1), sometimes true (2), or often true (3) for their child. The Externalizing behavior scale (three items) includes items such as “bullies or is cruel or mean to others” and “breaks things deliberately.” This variable ranges from 3 to 9. Alphas at the first and fifth waves, respectively, are .48 and .65. The Internalizing behavior scale (five items) focuses on sadness (“unhappy, sad”), being withdrawn, and feelings (“feels worthless”). Values range from 5 to 15, and the alphas are .66 and .75 for Waves 1 and 5, respectively. These alphas are consistent with those found in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (Baker et al. 1993), which also administered the BPI.

Relying solely on mothers to gauge their children’s well-being can be problematic for several reasons. First, mothers who are doing well may report that their children are doing well, and mothers who are having a hard time may do the opposite. Our use of fixed-effects regression models can only partially address this issue by controlling for stable (i.e., unchanging with time) characteristics of mothers. Researchers have examined the extent to which mothers’ reports of children’s behavior fluctuate over a short period of time, as well as how they are correlated with other dimensions of child well-being. Results indicate that, although mothers changed their reports on individual items measuring children’s behavior over a two-week period, when these items were combined in a scale, the overall measure of children’s behavior was quite stable, with over 60% of the scores remaining the same over the two-week period. This suggests that, on the whole, mothers do not change their reports of children’s behavior in response to transitory changes in their own lives.

Our measure of total behavior problems is a 12-item summary index that combines these two scales and includes 4 additional items measuring fear/anxiety in the child.

Disruptive behavior in school: Coded “1” if the child exhibited disruptive and/or disobedient behavior problems in school sometimes or often; “0” otherwise.

School absenteeism problems: Coded “1” if the child regularly missed school at least one or more times a month; “0” otherwise.

Repeated a grade or placed in special education:Coded “1” if either event occurred since last survey.

Family Characteristics

Used paid child care services:Coded “1” if yes since last survey.

Family income to needs ratio: Monthly income-to-needs ratio net of taxes, CPI-U deflated to 1997 dollars.

Maternal earnings:Measured at the monthly level and CPI-U deflated to 1997 dollars.In the regressions, this is expressed in thousands of dollars to ease interpretation of effect sizes.

Received welfare: Coded “1” if respondent received any income from FIP/TANF in past month.

Food Insufficiency:Coded “1” according to how the respondent answers the following question: “Which of the following best describes the amount of food your household has to eat: enough to eat, sometimes not enough to eat, or often not enough to eat? Respondents who answered “sometimes” or “often” not enough to eat were designated as food insufficient.

Moved: Coded “1” for yes if the respondent reported having moved since the previous survey and/or the residential address changed since the previous survey wave.

Evicted: Coded “1” for yes if respondent reports being evicted or experiencing an episode of homelessness since the previous interview.

Neighborhood Problems:Summary scale based on 11 self-report items (each item ranges from 1 to 3 where higher scores indicate higher levels of problems) asking the respondent how big a problem the following issues are in her neighborhood: (a) availability of public transportation; (b) availability of affordable housing; (c) slow/no police response; (d) groups of teenagers hanging about; (e) vandalism; (f) prostitution; (g) sexual assault/rape; (h) muggings; (i) gangs; (j) drug use/dealing; and (k) general safety of neighborhood.

Parental Stress Index:The parenting stress scale is a seven-item index that measures the degree of stress or irritation mothers perceive in relation to their interactions with their children. This scale explores mothers’ subjective sense of difficulty with regard to the parenting role and, in previous research, has been related to child maltreatment. Items for this scale were taken from or adapted from Abidin’s Parenting Stress Index (PSI) (Abidin 1990) and from the New Chance Study (Morrison et al. 1998). A sample item is “I find that being a mother is much more work than pleasure.” Items are measured on a 5-point scale and are coded such that a score of 1 means “never” and a score of 5 means “almost always.” The theoretical range of the scale is 7 through 35, higher scores indicating greater parenting stress. Cronbach’s alpha for this scale is .81.

Stressful Life Events Index: A summary checklist of seven yes/no items that may have occurred to respondents in the past 12 months, including whether(a) the respondent or one of her children had been robbed or attacked; (b) the respondent had a relative or close friend in jail; (c) she had people living with her that she wished weren’t there; (d) a close relation or friend had died or been killed; (e) a close relation or friend had a drug or alcohol problem; (f) she had trouble finding a place to live; and (g) she had been hassled by bill collectors or agencies.

Social Support Index:A summary checklist of 5 items (coded “1” if yes) that asks the respondent whether there is someone she could count on to (a) run errands; (b) lend money; (c) give encouragement and reassurance; (d) watch her children; and (e) give her a ride or lend a car if necessary.

Home Literacy Environment Index:A summary scale of four items (coded “1” if yes) asking if anyone in the household (a) has a library card; (b) uses the library card; (c) subscribes to newspapers or magazines; and (d) whether the respondent ever reads to herself.

Father Involvement Index:A summary scale comprised of four items (each item ranges from 1 to 4, where higher numbers indicate higher levels of involvement) asking (a) how often the target child sees his or her biological father; (b) how often the respondent and the biological father discuss the target child; (c) how well the respondent and the target child get along; and (d) how often the biological father provides diapers, clothing, or other items.

Harsh Parenting:Mothers’ harsh parenting toward the focal child is measured with an eight-item index. Mothers respond “often” (1), “sometimes” (2), or “never” (3) when asked how often they use harsh measures to punish the target child, including: spanking, yelling, threatening to send the child away, or talking things over with the child (reverse-coded). A higher score indicates increased use of harsh parenting. Cronbach’s alpha for this scale is .57. These items were derived from the New Hope Study.

Mothers’ Alcohol or Drug Problem:Measured by whether the respondent met the diagnostic screening behavior within the 12 months prior to the interview. The screening criteria are derived from the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) used in the National Co-Morbidity Study (NCS) and are based upon symptoms and conditions specified by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). The respondent received a “1” on this variable if she was alcohol dependent, used drugs, or both. Alcohol dependence is coded affirmatively when a respondent meets any three of the following criteria over a 12-month period: (1) increased tolerance for alcohol; (2) symptoms of withdrawal; (3) increased intake over longer periods of time; (4) persistent desire and/or unsuccessful attempt to curb or control use; (5) spending a lot of time obtaining the substance; (6) reducing number/amount of time in social, occupational, or recreational; activities because of use of the substance; or (7) the substance use is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by the substance. The drug use variable equals “1” if the respondent responds affirmatively to the question “The next questions are about your use of drugs on your own. By ‘on your own’ we mean either without a doctor’s prescription, in larger amounts than prescribed, or for a longer period than prescribed. With this definition in mind, did you ever use any of the (following) drugs on your own during the past 12 months?” Drug use us indicated if the mother either used illegal drugs in the past 12 months or used prescription drugs to get high in the past 12 months.

Mothers’ Physical Health Problem: Measured with self-reports of general well-being and the presence of a physical impairment or limitation. Using indicators in the SF-36 Health Survey, we define a woman as having health problems if she both self-reports fair or poor health (as opposed to excellent, very good, or good) and if she is in the lowest age-specific quartile of a physical functioning scale (where she rates any limitations in walking, climbing, lifting, carrying, etc.) (Ware, Snow, and Kosinski 1993). Because having only one of these problems may indicate a temporary condition or less severe problem, we count her as health impaired only if she has both.

Mothers’ Probable Diagnosis Major Depression: Measured by whether the respondent met the diagnostic screening behavior for major depression within the 12 months prior to the interview. The screening criteria are derived from the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) used in the National Co-Morbidity Study (NCS) and are based upon symptoms and conditions specified by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). To meet the screening criteria for major depression, a respondent has to report a certain number of symptoms and level of impairment in functioning such that a psychiatrist would recommend further clinical assessment. The respondent is asked whether in the past 12 months she felt sad or blue or depressed, or whether she lost interest in things, felt down on herself or worthless or had thoughts of death. If affirmative, she is asked how prolonged the feelings were, how frequent, and the degree to which her activities, energy level, sleep, concentration, etc. were affected. To be classified as having a major depressive episode, a mother has to report having had a two-week period in the preceding year during which she either experienced feeling sad, blue, or depressed or that she lost interest in things for at least most of the day almost every day. She also has to report having had at least three other symptoms of major depression.

Table A1 Descriptive statistics of WES mothers and children, 1997–2003
Maternal Work Patterns
Proportion who worked at some time between Waves 1 and 5 / 0.95
Avg. proportion who worked between successive waves / 0.87
Among Those Who Worked Between Waves, Avg. Job Transition Pattern Between Most Recent Job of Successive Waves
Job stability / 0.31
Voluntary job mobility / 0.22
Job instability / 0.47
Ever Fired/Laid Off(W1–W5), among those who worked between W1 and W5 / 0.35
Full-Time Jobt, among those who worked between waves / 0.53
Fluctuating Work Hourst, among those who worked between waves / 0.21
Mother’s Characteristics
Maternal age (years) / 30.0
White / 0.44
Black / 0.56
High school dropout / 0.28
High school graduatet / 0.38
Some colleget / 0.35
Married / 0.12
Cohabiting / 0.19
Single / 0.66
Grandmother Resides in Household / 0.14
Child’s Biological Father in Household / 0.07
Father Involvement IndexW1(range: 4–16) / 9.67
Home Literacy Environment IndexW1 (range: 0–4) / 3.15
Child’s Characteristics
Boy / 0.50
Girl / 0.50
Child’s age (years) / 7.0
Child Outcomes
Externalizing behavior problem index / 4.69
Internalizing behavior problem index / 6.05
Total behavior problem index / 16.85
Incidence of involvement in school-related problems
Disruptive problems in schoolt / 0.34
School absenteeism problemt / 0.20
Ever throughout survey
Disruptive problems in school / 0.68
School absenteeism problem / 0.47
Repeated a grade / 0.26
Placed in special education / 0.20
Repeated a grade or placed in special education / 0.37

Table A2 The effects of maternal employment patterns on child well-being: All behavior problems, WES 1997–2003

Dependent Variables—Child Outcomest
OLS / Probit Models (marginal effects)
Behavior Problem
Indext / Externalizing
Scalet / Internalizing
Scalet / Prob(Disruptive in
School)t / Prob(School
Absenteeism)t
(1) / (2) / (3) / (4) / (5)
Maternal Employment-Related Variables
Worked t–1,t(ref. = job stability) / –1.0291* / –0.2804† / –0.4376* / –0.0137 / 0.0201
(0.4566) / (0.1612) / (0.1723) / (0.0573) / (0.0562)
Worked t–1,t Job instability t – 1,t / 0.9717** / 0.2073* / 0.3383** / 0.0609† / 0.0559†
(0.2587) / (0.0945) / (0.1010) / (0.0361) / (0.0382)
Worked t–1,t Voluntary job mobilityt – 1,t / 0.2163 / 0.1009 / 0.1115 / 0.0029 / –0.0206
(0.2596) / (0.0947) / (0.1050) / (0.0381) / (0.0380)
Worked  Full-time workt – 1,t / 0.3208 / 0.1392† / 0.0422 / –0.0056 / 0.0173
(0.2484) / (0.0844) / (0.0991) / (0.0310) / (0.0335)
Worked  Fluctuating work hourst – 1,t / 0.6352* / 0.1937* / 0.2017† / –0.0174 / 0.0344
(0.2887) / (0.0921) / (0.1089) / (0.0336) / (0.0378)
Used paid child caret – 1,t / 0.5527* / 0.0589 / 0.2703** / 0.0601† / –0.0183
(0.2456) / (0.0871) / (0.0964) / (0.0323) / (0.0328)
Income Sources and Material Hardship
Net family incomet – 1,t / –0.3997* / –0.0895† / –0.2009** / –0.0062 / –0.0295
(0.1708) / (0.0595) / (0.0649) / (0.0230) / (0.0256)
Maternal labor earningst – 1,t / 0.2414 / 0.1335† / 0.0374 / 0.0358 / –0.0007
(0.2072) / (0.0698) / (0.0786) / (0.0264) / (0.0265)
Received welfaret – 1,t / 0.7453** / 0.3220** / 0.1571† / –0.0120 / 0.0395
(0.2656) / (0.0882) / (0.1019) / (0.0325) / (0.0368)
Food insufficiency indext – 1,t / 1.2353** / 0.2919** / 0.5454** / 0.0169 / 0.0378
(0.3166) / (0.1032) / (0.1251) / (0.0353) / (0.0388)
Residential Mobility/Instability Variables
Movedt – 1,t / 0.0759 / 0.0647 / –0.0054 / 0.0444 / –0.0709*
(0.2339) / (0.0787) / (0.0926) / (0.0287) / (0.0290)
Movedt –1,t Evictedt – 1,t / 0.3031 / 0.2362† / 0.1639 / –0.0316 / 0.0644
(0.4357) / (0.1529) / (0.1728) / (0.0456) / (0.0528)
Neighborhood disadvantage (crime)W1 / 0.4597† / 0.1980* / 0.0105 / 0.0101 / –0.0230
(0.2748) / (0.0961) / (0.1014) / (0.0323) / (0.0313)
Parental Characteristics
Parental stress indext / 0.0986** / 0.0216* / 0.0330** / 0.0079** / –0.0054†
(0.0288) / (0.0096) / (0.0110) / (0.0030) / (0.0030)
Stressful life events indexW1 / 0.0647 / 0.0507 / –0.0022 / –0.0043 / 0.0123
(0.1018) / (0.0345) / (0.0373) / (0.0108) / (0.0101)
Social support indexW1 / –0.0979 / –0.0213 / –0.0936 / 0.0023 / –0.0005
(0.1531) / (0.0468) / (0.0619) / (0.0139) / (0.0135)
Maternal aget / –0.0232 / –0.0079 / –0.0016 / –0.0011 / 0.0010
(0.0242) / (0.0077) / (0.0103) / (0.0027) / (0.0027)
Black (ref. = white) / –0.8797** / –0.1197 / –0.4733** / 0.0559† / –0.0089
(0.3025) / (0.1021) / (0.1140) / (0.0339) / (0.0345)
Maternal education (ref.= high school dropout)
High school graduatet / –0.2016 / –0.1671 / 0.0828 / –0.0363 / –0.0617†
(0.3665) / (0.1222) / (0.1359) / (0.0381) / (0.0337)
Some colleget / –0.2734 / –0.3274** / 0.1481 / –0.0127 / –0.1215**
(0.3841) / (0.1232) / (0.1436) / (0.0411) / (0.0360)
Home literacy environment indexW1 / –0.0254 / –0.0141 / 0.0267 / 0.0163 / –0.0081
(0.1409) / (0.0469) / (0.0501) / (0.0153) / (0.0138)
Mother cohabiting W1(ref. = marriedW1) / –0.5361 / 0.1193 / –0.2015 / 0.0841 / –0.0246
(0.5865) / (0.2029) / (0.2043) / (0.0719) / (0.0553)
Not cohabitingW1 / –0.0795 / 0.0610 / –0.0453 / 0.0831 / 0.0235
(0.5206) / (0.1781) / (0.1808) / (0.0576) / (0.0485)
Father involvement indexW1 / 0.0114 / –0.0052 / 0.0029 / –0.0036 / –0.0021
(0.0343) / (0.0123) / (0.0125) / (0.0040) / (0.0037)
Grandmother lives in householdW1 / 0.6497 / 0.0447 / 0.3845† / –0.0225 / –0.0486
(0.5196) / (0.1609) / (0.2174) / (0.0723) / (0.0438)
Harsh parenting indexW1 / 0.2746** / 0.1113** / 0.0780* / 0.0166† / 0.0035
(0.0855) / (0.0281) / (0.0313) / (0.0089) / (0.0089)
Mother’s alcohol or drug problemt – 1,t / 0.7747* / 0.1474 / 0.4265** / 0.0400 / 0.0447
(0.3305) / (0.1182) / (0.1256) / (0.0365) / (0.0383)
Mother’s physical heath problemt – 1,t / 0.7383* / 0.2464* / 0.1407 / 0.0558 / 0.0817†
(0.3404) / (0.1124) / (0.1312) / (0.0369) / (0.0427)
Mother’s probable diagnosis major depressiont – 1,t / 0.5617† / 0.1459 / 0.2244† / 0.0660† / 0.0626†
(0.3113) / (0.1030) / (0.1273) / (0.0367) / (0.0369)
Boy / 0.9403** / 0.2271* / 0.2691* / 0.1552** / 0.0570†
(0.2951) / (0.0968) / (0.1095) / (0.0310) / (0.0300)
Child’s Age / 0.1939** / –0.0093 / 0.1388** / 0.0216** / 0.0023
(0.0506) / (0.0161) / (0.0194) / (0.0055) / (0.0065)
No. of Children in Household / –0.0620 / 0.0056 / –0.0653 / –0.0132 / –0.0101
(0.1045) / (0.0381) / (0.0407) / (0.0125) / (0.0127)
Child-Year Observations / 1,550 / 1,661 / 1,656 / 1,615 / 1,055
Number of Children / 515 / 524 / 523 / 513 / 452
Notes: Robust standard errors are in parentheses. In these analyses, the coefficient on “worked” represents mothers working and experiencing job stability between waves, relative to those who did not work. The coefficients on job instability are in reference to those who worked and had job stability. So, for example, the coefficient on “workedjob instability” indicates the change in children’s behavior associated with a mother’s experience of job instability in the past 1–2 years (relative to the experience of job stability). To understand the influence on children of the movement from nonwork to an unstable job, one would sum the coefficients on “worked” and “workedjob instability.” Because nearly all mothers worked at some point during the past year, the working versus not working comparison is less useful than is characterizing the nature and pattern of employment and identifying differential effects in the type of maternal work involvement on child well-being.
†p < .10; *p < .05; **p < .01
Table A3 The effects of maternal employment patterns on child well-being: All behavior problems, WES 1997–2003 (first-difference models
Dependent Variable—Δ Child Outcomest – 1,t
Δ Behavior Problem
Indext –1 ,t / Δ Externalizing Scalet – 1,t / Δ Internalizing Scalet – 1,t / Δ Prob(Disruptive in School)t – 1,t / Δ Prob(School Absenteeism)t – 1,t
(1) / (2) / (3) / (4) / (5)
Maternal Employment-Related Variables
Δ Workedt – 1,t(ref. = Δ job stability) / –0.6377 / –0.1804 / –0.0751 / 0.0027 / –0.0400
(0.4108) / (0.1721) / (0.1938) / (0.0730) / (0.0753)
Δ Job instabilityt –1,t / 0.7690** / 0.2318** / 0.2473* / 0.0152 / 0.0740†
(0.2330) / (0.0863) / (0.1081) / (0.0403) / (0.0384)
Δ Voluntary job mobilityt – 1,t / 0.2215 / 0.1246 / 0.1038 / 0.0384 / 0.0569
(0.2226) / (0.0896) / (0.1076) / (0.0404) / (0.0378)
Δ Full-time work hourst – 1,t / 0.0214 / 0.0572 / –0.0581 / 0.0200 / 0.0273
(0.2387) / (0.0875) / (0.1061) / (0.0381) / (0.0422)
Δ Fluctuating work hourst – 1,t / 0.5175* / 0.1698* / 0.2374* / –0.0532 / 0.0234
(0.2342) / (0.0827) / (0.1004) / (0.0397) / (0.0478)
Used paid child care servicest – 1,t (for any / 0.2799 / 0.0159 / 0.2633* / –0.0505 / –0.0787†
child) / (0.2262) / (0.0804) / (0.1046) / (0.0374) / (0.0440)
Income Sources and Material Hardship
Δ Net family incomet – 1,t / –0.2037 / 0.0306 / –0.1765** / –0.0001 / –0.0393
(0.1680) / (0.0730) / (0.0643) / (0.0271) / (0.0298)
Δ Maternal labor earningst – 1,t / 0.4210* / 0.0791 / 0.1519† / 0.0703* / 0.0405
(0.1844) / (0.0665) / (0.0826) / (0.0304) / (0.0279)
Δ Received welfaret – 1,t / 0.2648 / 0.1135 / 0.1492 / –0.0046 / 0.1178*
(0.2496) / (0.0966) / (0.1071) / (0.0442) / (0.0532)
Δ Food insufficiency indext – 1,t / 0.9118** / 0.1250 / 0.3342* / 0.0165 / 0.0386
(0.2819) / (0.0996) / (0.1313) / (0.0456) / (0.0426)
Residential Mobility/Instability Variables
Movedt – 1,t / –0.0881 / –0.0209 / –0.0400 / 0.0055 / –0.0736†
(0.2185) / (0.0803) / (0.0986) / (0.0351) / (0.0389)
Movedt – 1,t Evicted t–1,t / 0.7940* / 0.2850† / 0.3751* / –0.0052 / 0.0607
(0.3868) / (0.1682) / (0.1691) / (0.0737) / (0.0839)
Movedt – 1,t Became homeownert – 1,t / –0.0372 / 0.0338 / –0.1367 / –0.1108† / 0.0394
(0.3702) / (0.1280) / (0.1675) / (0.0608) / (0.0524)
Movedt – 1,t Δ Neighborhood poverty / –0.6312 / –0.3281 / 0.0299 / 0.0829 / 0.1181
ratet – 1,t / (1.0020) / (0.4059) / (0.4113) / (0.2216) / (0.2340)
Demographic Variables
Pregnantt – 1,t / 1.1740* / 0.0303 / 0.7082** / 0.2308** / 0.0844
(0.5490) / (0.1872) / (0.2162) / (0.0881) / (0.1126)
Father involvement indexW1 / –0.0022 / 0.0063 / –0.0053 / 0.0017 / –0.0113**
(0.0197) / (0.0075) / (0.0094) / (0.0033) / (0.0042)
Δ Father involvement indexW1,W2 / –0.0098 / 0.0172 / –0.0187 / –0.0015 / –0.0044
(0.0366) / (0.0118) / (0.0171) / (0.0047) / (0.0068)
Δ Grandmother lives in householdt – 1,t / 1.2047† / 0.5069† / 0.4009 / –0.0087 / 0.1024
(0.6555) / (0.2841) / (0.3218) / (0.1388) / (0.2106)
Δ Cohabatingt – 1,t (ref. = married) / 1.0128* / 0.3212* / 0.3617* / –0.0756 / 0.0684
(0.4015) / (0.1462) / (0.1764) / (0.0661) / (0.0799)
Δ Not cohabitingt – 1,t / 0.8786* / 0.1696 / 0.4243* / –0.0386 / 0.0411
(0.4305) / (0.1493) / (0.1839) / (0.0622) / (0.0851)
Maternal Health-Related Variables
Δ Parental stress indext – 1,t / 0.1395** / 0.0453** / 0.0416** / 0.0065 / 0.0033
(0.0284) / (0.0094) / (0.0117) / (0.0040) / (0.0045)
Δ Mother’s alcohol or drug use problemt – 1,t / 0.7083** / 0.1554 / 0.3779** / 0.0411 / –0.0302
(0.2677) / (0.1113) / (0.1246) / (0.0500) / (0.0571)
Δ Mother’s probable diagnosis major / –0.1404 / 0.0218 / –0.0166 / 0.0454 / 0.0512
depressiont – 1,t / (0.2455) / (0.0955) / (0.1213) / (0.0466) / (0.0449)
Δ Mother’s physical heath problemt – 1,t / 0.2957 / 0.0621 / 0.1749 / 0.0780 / 0.0412
(0.2914) / (0.1071) / (0.1280) / (0.0483) / (0.0584)
Constant / 0.5824 / 0.0434 / 0.4849* / 0.1351 / 0.0081
(0.4978) / (0.1973) / (0.2196) / (0.0853) / (0.2906)
Child-Specific Fixed Effects? / First-Difference Form
Child-Year Observations / 1,045 / 1,663 / 1,653 / 1,476 / 742
Number of Children / 457 / 524 / 523 / 497 / 407
Notes: Robust standard errors (clustered on the child) are in parentheses. All models include controls for changes in child’s age, maternal education, and home literacy environment scale. These effects are suppressed in the table to conserve space. In these analyses, the coefficient on “Δ worked” represents the effect of a mother’s movement from not working (in the prior period) to working and experiencing job stability during the most recent 1–2 years. The coefficient on “Δ job instability” indicates the change in children’s behavior associated with a mother’s movement from job stability (experienced in the prior period) to job instability experienced during the most recent 1–2 years. To understand the influence on children of the movement from job mobility to job instability, one would subtract the coefficient on “Δ voluntary job mobility” from the coefficient on “Δ job instability.” To understand the influence on children of the movement from nonwork to an unstable job, one would sum the coefficients on “Δ worked” and “Δ job instability.” Because nearly all mothers worked at some point during the past year, the working versus not working comparison is less useful than is characterizing the nature and pattern of employment and identifying differential effects in the type of maternal work involvement on child well-being.
†p < .10; *p < .05; **p < .01
Table A4 The longer-run impacts of maternal employment patterns on child well-being: WES 1997–2003
Dependent Variables—Δ Child OutcomesW1,W5
Behavior Problem
IndexW5 / Externalizing
ScaleW5 / Internalizing
ScaleW5 / Prob(Disruptive in School)W5 / Prob(School
Absenteeism)W5
(1) / (2) / (3) / (4) / (5)
Externalizing Behavior Subscale Measure at Wave 1 / 0.9973** / 1.5629**
(0.2100) / (0.2541)
Internalizing Behavior Subscale Measure at Wave 1 / 0.6571* / 1.1778**
(0.2678) / (0.2349)
Disruptive in School at Wave 1 / 0.1427†
(0.0795)
Maternal Employment-Related Variables
No. of months workedW1,W5 / 0.0019 / –0.0095 / –0.0072 / 0.0010 / –0.0003
(0.0301) / (0.0395) / (0.0286) / (0.0037) / (0.0024)
No. of involuntary job-to-nonemployment / 0.9687* / 1.2159* / 1.2830** / 0.1146* / 0.0012