Skip to main content

The Timing of Motherhood, Mothers’ Employment and Child Outcomes

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Fertility, Living Arrangements, Care and Mobility

The last decades of the twentieth century have witnessed, as part of the second demographic transition affecting most industrial countries (Van de Kaa, 1987), two features of particular interest here – a delay in entry to motherhood and an increased chance of women being employed even after they have children. In Britain, these trends have not been experienced uniformly across the social spectrum. The research reported in this chapter attempts to establish links between these two phenomena, to quantify the extent of social differentials (in the timing of first motherhood and maternal employment) and to investigate their impact on the development of children.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allen, I. and Bourke Dowling, S. (1998) Teenage Mothers: Decisions and Outcomes, Policy Studies Institute, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, G. and Wellings, K. (2002) What is a ‘planned’ pregnancy? Empirical data from a British study, Social Science & Medicine, 55(4): 545–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baxter, J., Joshi, H., Sanson, A. and Ward, K. (2006) Mother’s employment and mental health in the first year of a child’s life: A contrast between two maternity leave regimes, Presentation at the International Conference on Child Cohorts, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanden, J., Goodman, A., Gregg, P. and Machin, S. (2005) Changes in intergenerational mobility in Britain, in Corak, M. (ed.) Generational Income Mobility in North America and Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 112–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryson, C., Kazimirski, A. and Southwood, H. (2006) Childcare and Early Years Provision: A Study of Parents’ Use, View and Experience, DfES Research Report No 723, National Centre for Social Research, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buxton, J., Clarke, L. Grundy, E. and Marshall, C.E. (2005) The long shadow of childhood: associations between parental social class and own social class, educational attainment and timing of first birth; results from the ONS Longitudinal Study, Population Trends, 121(October): 17–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bynner, J. and Joshi, H. (2007) Building the evidence base from longitudinal data: the aims, content and achievements of the British Birth Cohort Studies, The European Journal of Social Science Research, 20(2): 159–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bynner, J. and Parsons, S. (1999) Young People not in Employment, Education or Training and Social Exclusion: Analysis of the 1970 Cohort Study, Social Exclusion Unit, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandola, T., Coleman, D.A. and Hiorns R.W. (2002) Distinctive features of age-specific fertility profiles in the English-speaking world: common patterns in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, 1970–98, Population Studies, 53: 317–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, D. and Hawkes, D. (2007) Cross-national research using contemporary birth cohort studies: a look at early maternal employment in the United Kingdom and United States, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Special Issue - Child Cohort Studies, 10(5): 379–404.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, D. and Hawkes, D. (2009) Child outcomes and early maternal employment: evidence for the UK and the US, submitted to Child Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Education and Skills (2006) Provision for Children Under Five Years of Age in England: January 2006 (Final), This Statistical First Release updates and extends the information provided in SFR 17/2006 Provision for Children Under Five Years of Age in England: www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000674/release.shtml is contained in www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000674/index.shtml.

  • Dex, S. and Ward, K. (2008) Parents Employment and Education in Hansen and Joshi (eds) MCS3 User Guide to Initial Findings, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dex, S., Gustafsson, S., Jenkins, A., Joshi, H., Kenjoh, E., Killingsworth, M.R. (2005) Mothers' changing labour supply in Britain, the US, and Sweden, in Goméz-Salvador, R. Lamo, A. Petrongolo, B. Ward M. and Wasmer E. (eds.) Labour Supply and Incentives to Work in Europe, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 115–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffield, M. (2002) Trends on Female Employment 2002, Labour Market Trends, 110 (November): 605–616.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ermisch, J., and D. Pevalin. (2003a) Who has a child as a teenager? ISER Working Paper 2003–30, Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Colchester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ermisch, J., and Pevalin, D. (2003b) Does a teen birth have longer-term impact on the mother? Evidence for the 1970 British Cohort Study, ISER Working Paper 2003–28, Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Colchester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ermisch, J.F. and Pevalin D.J. (2005) Early motherhood and later partnerships, Journal of Population Economics, 18: 469–489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feinstein, L. (2003) Inequality in the early cognitive development of British children in the 1970 Cohort, Economica, 70 (277): 73–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geronimus, A. and Korenman, S. (1992) The socioeconomic consequences of teen childbearing reconsidered, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107: 1187–1214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregg, P., Harkness, S. and Machin, S. (1999) Child Development and Family Income, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregg, P., Washbrook, E., Propper, C. and Burgess, S. (2005) The effects of a mother’s return to work decision on child development in the UK, The Economic Journal, 115(501): F49–F80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, K. (2008) Millennium Cohort Study. A Guide to the Datasets, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, K. and Hawkes, D. (2009) Early childcare and child development, Journal of Social Policy, 38(2): 211–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, K., Joshi, H. and Verropoulou, G. (2006) Childcare and mothers’ employment: approaching the Millennium, National Institute Economic Review, 195(January): 84–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, D. (2008) The UK Millennium Cohort Study: the circumstances of early motherhood, in Edwards, R. (ed.) Researching Families and Communities: Social and Generational Change, Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 147–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, D. (2008) The socio-economic consequences of early child bearing: evidence from a sample of UK female twins, submitted to Journal of Population Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, D., Joshi, H. and Ward, K. (2004) Unequal entry to motherhood and unequal starts in life: evidence from the first survey of the UK Millennium Cohort, Working Paper 6, CLS Cohort Studies, London, www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/core/documents/download.asp?id=299&log_stat=1

  • Hobcraft, J., and Kiernan, K.E. (2001) Childhood poverty, early motherhood and adult social exclusion, The British Journal of Sociology, 52(3): 495–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jayaweera, H., Joshi, H., McFarlane, A., Hawkes, D. and Butler, N. (2005) Pregnancy and child birth, in Dex, S. and Joshi, H. (eds.) Children of the 21st Century from Birth to Nine Months. The UK Millennium Cohort Study Series, The Policy Press, Bristol, pp. 109–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, A., Joshi, H., and Killingsworth, M. (2008a) The relationship between educational attainment and the timing of first and higher-order births. An Event History Analysis of the National Child Development Study, Unpublished paper presented at European Society of Population Economics (ESPE) conference, June, www.econ.ucl.ac.uk/espe2008/

  • Jenkins, A., Joshi, H., and Killingsworth, M. (2008b) Educational attainment, labour market conditions and the timing of first and higher-order births in Britain, Unpublished Paper Presented at European Association of Labour Economists (EALE) Conference, Sept. www.eale.nl/Conference2008/Programme/PapersC/add72162_tqMZ5V8zNr.pdf

  • Kiernan, K.E. (1992) The impact of family disruption in childhood on transitions made in young adult life, Population Studies, 46: 213–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiernan, K.E. (1997) Becoming a young parent: a longitudinal study of associated factors, British Journal of Sociology, 48: 406–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiernan. K.E. and Diamond, I. (1983) The age at which childbearing starts -a longitudinal study, Population Studies, 37(3): 363–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kneale, D. (2009) Early parenthood: definition and prediction in two British cohorts, in Stillwell, J., Coast, E. and Kneale, D. (eds.) Fertility, Living Arrangements, Care and Mobility: Understanding Population Trends and Processes Volume 1, Springer Dordrecht, pp.81–103.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kneale, D. and Joshi, H.E. (2008) Postponement and childlessness – evidence from two British cohorts, submitted to Demographic Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liao, T.F. (2003) Mental health, teenage motherhood, and age at first birth among British women in the 1990s, ISER Working Paper 2003–33, Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Colchester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office for National Statistics (2005) Dataset PBH41A Taken from Table 1.6 Published in Birth Statistics 1837–1983, Historical series FM1 No 13, and Vol. No’s 27, 28, 29 and 33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office for National Statistics (2007) Birth Statistics Series FM1 no. 35 Review of the Registrar General on Births and Patterns of Family Building in England and Wales, 2006, Office for National Statistics, Newport.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pevalin, D.A. (2003) Outcomes in childhood and adulthood by mother’s age at birth: evidence from the 1970 British Cohort Study, Working Paper 2003-31, ISER, University of Essex, Colchester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rendall, M.S., Couet, C., Lappegard, T., Robert-Bobee, I., Ronsen, M. and Smallwood, S. (2005) First birth by age and education in Britain, France and Norway, Population Trends, 121: 27–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rendall, M.S., Joshi, H., Lynch, K., Ekert-Jaffe, O. and Mougin, R. (2008) Universal versus economically polarized change in age at first birth: a French-British comparison, Rand Corporation Working Paper WR568, http://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR568.

  • Rendall, M. and Smallwood, S. (2003) Higher qualifications, first-birth timing, and further childbearing in England and Wales, Population Trends, 111: 18–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoon, I. (2006) Risk and Resilience: Adaptations to Changing Times, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Smallwood, S. (2002) New estimates of trends in births by birth order in England and Wales, Population Trends, 108: 32–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) (1999) Teenage Pregnancy, TSO, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I. and Taggart, B. (2004) The Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) project, Technical Paper 12 – The Final Report, DfES/Institute of Education, University of London, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Kaa, D. (1987) Europe’s second demographic transition, Population Bulletin, Washington DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verropoulou, G. and Joshi, H. (2008) Does mothers’ employment conflict with child development? Multi-level analysis of British mothers born in 1958, submitted to Journal of Population Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, K. and Dex, S. (2007) Parental employment, in Hansen, K. and Joshi, H. (eds.) The Millennium Cohort Study Second Survey: A User’s Guide to Initial Findings, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, London.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kirstine Hansen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hansen, K., Hawkes, D., Joshi, H. (2009). The Timing of Motherhood, Mothers’ Employment and Child Outcomes. In: Kneale, D., Coast, E., Stillwell, J. (eds) Fertility, Living Arrangements, Care and Mobility. Understanding Population Trends and Processes, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9682-2_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics