The Journal of Early Adolescence

Research that has examined the relationship between parental employment and early adolescent adjustment has tended to yield mixed or no associations. This is true for studies that have examined academic, emotional, social, or cognitive well-being in this age group. Some gender differences have emerged but are not well understood at this time. There appear to be several reasons for the lack of significant findings. The first lies in the adaptation that mothers, children, and families as a whole have been making to increases in maternal employment. The second lies in the relatively simple research designs that have not adequately explored more complex hypotheses. The article concludes with suggestions for additional research as well as implications for policies and practices related to parental employment and early adolescence.

Labor statistics show that mothers of adolescents are more likely to work than are those of children in any other age group, and, therefore, represent an important sample to address. The present study had two purposes. First, the effects of maternal employment on adolescent functioning were examined in a sample of 63 young adolescents. Results showed that maternal employment was not related to any of the areas assessed, suggesting that maternal employment may not have a harmful effect on adolescent adjustment. Second, the relationship of prestige ratings of either maternal or paternal employment to adolescent functioning was examined ia a sample of 96 young adolescents. Maternal prestige ratings were not significantly related to any dependent measures, yet prestige ratings of paternal employment were significantly related to at least one measure in most areas of adolescent functioning. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that only the paternal rating served to predict adolescent functioning, particularly for male adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of maternal employment status and maternal satisfaction with employment status on closeness between parents and their seventh-grade children. Effects on family activities and family rules were studied with consideration given to their possible mediating influences on closeness. Results revealed that sons reported greater closeness with fathers when mothers were employed and daughters reported greater closeness with parents when mothers were not employed or were employed part time. Mothers reported greater closeness to sons when they were employed, but reported greater closeness to daughters when they were not employed or were employed part time. Fathers reported no differences in closeness to either sons or daughters regardless of maternal employment status. Maternal employment status had no effects on activities or rules. Maternal satisfaction with employment status had little effect on closeness and had no effect on activities or rules.

This study examined (a) the extent to which father-child dyadic involvement varies as a function of parental earner status, father s work-related availability, and child's gender and (b) the connectionts between father-child involvement and children's assessments of their fathers and their feelings of closeness to their fathers. Total involvement and involvement in "quality time" were assessed via seven daily telephone interviews with 147 children, age 9 to 11 years. Children reported on the extent to which they had engaged in each of 32 activities during the day of each call and with whom they had engaged in each activity. In separate home interviews, fathers reported their work schedules, and children completed two measures assessing their relationship with their fathers. Results indicated that fathers in single-earner families spent significantly more time in dyadic activities with sons than with daughters; dual-earner fathers spent equal amounts of time with sons and daughters. Controlling for family size, girls with greater dyadic involvement felt closer to their fathers than did girls with less dyadic involvement; boys' feelings of closeness were not linked to levels of one-to-one involvement with their fathers.

The present study examined whether mothers' work-related and global stress (e.g., depressed affect) were associated with changes in mother-adolescent relations across a 6-month period and whether mothers' stress and mother-adolescent relations predicted the adolescent's psychosocial adjustment. Subjects were mothers and early adolescents (sixth graders) in 96 dual-earner families. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing work-related and global stress, adolescents completed instruments measuring psychosocial adjustment, and perceptions of maternal acceptance and mother-adolescent conflict were obtained from both sources. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that global stress was related to the mother's decreasing acceptance of the child, according to mother and adolescent. Lower maternal acceptance was associated with poorer psychosocial adjustment in adolescents. Mothers' work-related stress, however, was not associated with mother-adolescent relations or adolescent adjustment. Results are discussed in terms of the meaning of mothers' work and work-related stress in families with adolescents.

This research investigated maternal employment and education in relation to mothers' emotional well-being and the emotional well-being of their adolescents. In the study, 52 adolescents and their parents carried electronic pagers and responded to signals via self-report forms for I week At the end of the week the Beck Depression Inventory and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were administered along with other self-report measures. The results showed that mothers' global well-being was influenced by an interaction between education and employment. Additionally, mothers' education/employment match interacted with their affect to influence adolescents's global well-being (depression and self-esteem) as well as adolescents' day-to-day experiences (affect). These interactions were investigated further and the findings are discussed in relation to the emotional development of adolescents.

This study investigated the emotional stress reported by early adolescents in two-earner families in family, peer, and student roles. Data were collected from 173 eighth-grade adolescents (79 males and 94 females) and their two-earner parents. Role strain, coping strategies, psychological resources, and parental work characteristics were examined as determinants of adolescent emotional stress. Gender also was included in the analyses as a control variable. Overall, the adolescents sampled reported low to moderate levels of emotional stress across roles. Role strain was found to be a key factor in explaining early adolescent stress levels. Results were less supportive of the influence of psychological resources and gender as moderators of stress. Coping strategies were found to be especially important in explaining stress outcomes as an adolescent family member. Parental work characteristics did not explain any of the variance in emotional stress in family, peer, or student roles. Implications of these findings are discussed.

This study examined the association between geographical relocations and selected indicators of personal well-being among early adolescents in five communities in the United States. Relocation was measured both by recency of residential change and by the number of lifetime moves between towns that the adolescents had made. Well-being was self-esteem, alienation, depression, and life satisfaction. The results indicated that neither recent relocations nor a history of relocations were associated with well-being among males, but that life satisfaction was negatively affected by recent moves as well as high number of moves in the history of females. A history of frequent moves also resulted in lower levels of depression among females. The results are discussed in terms of gender differences and responses to moving and the reasons why relocations may have only a moderate affect on this age child.

This study examined the relationships between parental employment variables, mediating contextual variables, early adolescent's permissive sexual attitudes and behaviors, and gender role traditionalism among 128 rural adolescents. Permissive sexual attitudes were related to permissive sexual behavior, but neither was related to gender role traditionalism. No relationship was found between mothers' employment and adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviors. Similarly, the sexual attitudes, sexual behaviors, and traditionalism of the adolescents in this sample were not related to the employment variables of their parents, regardless of whether these variables were examined in bivariate or multivariate fashion. Adolescents' ages and perceptions of peer pressure were both positively related to sexual permissiveness, although these relationships appeared to be mediated by general parent-adolescent communication and parentadolescent communication about human sexuality. The only communication variable related to an occupational variable was communication with father, which was positively correlated with fathers' occupational status.

Early adolescence is a crucial period in the development of autonomy which includes the taking of responsibility and self-management. The relationship between the development of responsibility and changing parental employment patterns was the focus of this study. Two-way analyses of variance were employed to determine whether levels of responsibility differed according to parental employment status and gender of adolescent. The sample consisted of 174 early adolescents and their parents who were part of a statewide survey conducted in Michigan in 1987. Interviews with adolescents and their parents yielded data in personal, family-related, and social responsibility. Neither parental employment status nor gender of child was found to be related to personal responsibility. Gender effects were significant for family responsibility with boys and girls assuming traditionally male and female roles. In the area of social responsibility, adolescents from two-parent families in which one parent was not employed participated in more volunteer activities than did adolescents from single-parent families. Girls were more likely than boys to participate in volunteer activities.