Work, Family and Child Development Parental involvement plays a critical role in how children fare in school: in learning to read, in learning mathematics, in their behavior and development. While parental involvement is important for all children, the availability of parents is particularly important for children who are at risk academically or behaviorally. With the support of the W.T. Grant Foundation, we analyzed the effect of parental working conditions on the behavioral and developmental outcomes of children living in and out of poverty, examining a variety of working conditions which affect the amount, type, regularity, and flexibility of time parents have with their children. As part of this project, we analyzed a wide range of surveys including daily diaries, cognitive and behavioral assessments of children, and multi-year follow-ups. Findings Evening and night work and children’s educational outcomes Non-standard shifts are becoming increasingly common in the 24-hour-economy of the U.S. Of these shifts, evening work is the most common. 40% of full-time workers and more than half of part-time workers with non-standard shifts work evenings. In families where parents have to work in the evening, measurements of the quality of the cognitive stimulation and emotional support provided to children by families were reduced by 10 percent (11 percent if the mother worked evenings; 8 percent if the father worked evenings). Poor children are doubly affected by parental evening work because their parents have the least choice about which hours to work and have the least resources to counteract the negative effects of evening work on their children. Children whose parents work in the evening are significantly more likely to do poorly in mathematics. For each hour that a parent works between 6 and 9 pm, his or her child is 16% more likely to score in the bottom quartile on math tests. Children whose parents work at night are 2.72 times more likely to be suspended from school than children whose parents do not work at night. Children at Educational Risk Families in which a child was in the bottom quartile in reading or math were significantly more likely to face working conditions that made it difficult or impossible for the parents to adequately assist their children. Of parents who had a child scoring in the bottom quartile on math tests more than half at times lacked any kind of paid leave; nearly three-fourths could not consistently rely on flexibility at work: one out of three found themselves at multiple jeopardy, simultaneously lacking paid vacation leave, sick leave, and work flexibility; one in six were not able to be available routinely in the evenings because of work; and more than one in ten had to work nights. Families in which a child scored in the bottom quartile in reading were equally constrained by working conditions. More than half of these parents lacked paid leave, and nearly three out of four lacked flexibility they could rely on. More than one out of three found themselves in one or more jobs between 1990 and 1996 in which they simultaneously lacked paid vacation leave, sick leave, and flexibility. Furthermore, one in six of the parents of children scoring in the bottom quartile in reading worked evenings, and more than one in ten worked some nights. More than half of parents of children who had to repeat a grade in school or who had been suspended from school lacked, at least some of the time, any kind of leave they could take to address their children’s problems. Four out of ten of these parents found themselves in multiple jeopardy, some or all of the time. Nearly one out of five of these parents worked evenings, and one out of seven worked nights. Low-income children at heightened risk We examined families in which at least one child scored in the bottom quartile of all children on the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT). We found that working poor mothers who had one child score in the bottom quartile for reading comprehension and mathematics were significantly more likely than working mothers* who were not poor to lack paid leave or flexibility that they might use to meet with teachers, visit schools, and help address their children’s problems. 25% of mothers living in poverty who had child in the bottom reading quartile lacked both paid leave and flexibility compared to 13% of mothers who were not in poverty. Twenty-nine percent of mothers living in poverty who had a child in the bottom math quartile lacked both paid leave and flexibility compared to 11% of mothers who were not living in poverty. The disparities in working conditions were even greater between poor mothers and non-poor mothers who needed time to help address the needs of a child with behavioral problems including: high levels of anxiety, peer conflict, antisocial behavior, or hyperactive behavior. Using the Behavior Problems Index (BPI) to assess behavioral difficulties, we found that 29% of poor mothers who have a child with high levels of behavioral problems both lack paid leave and flexibility compared to 9% of non-poor mothers. *The working conditions faced by fathers are equally critical. We hope the Department of Labor will collect similar linked data on fathers and children. As this data is currently unavailable, this study was limited to mothers. For more information, please see: Heymann SJ, Penrose K, and Earle A. Meeting Children’s Needs: How Does the U.S. Measure Up? Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. Forthcoming. Heymann SJ, Earle A. The Impact Of Parental Working Conditions On School-Age Children: The Case Of Evening Work. Community, Work & Family. 2001; 4 (3): 305-325. Heymann SJ. The Widening Gap: Why Working Families Are in Jeopardy and What Can Be Done About It. New York: Basic Books, 2000. Heymann SJ. What Happens During and After School: Conditions Faced by Working Parents Living in Poverty and Their School-Age Children. Journal of Children and Poverty. 2000; 6(1): 5-20. Heymann SJ, Earle A. Low-Income Parents: How Do Working Conditions Affect Their Opportunity to Help School-Age Children At Risk? American Educational Research Journal. 2000; 37(4): 833-848. Heymann SJ. Rogers J and Cohen J (eds). Can Working Families Ever Win? A New Democracy Forum on Helping Parents Succeed at Work and Caregiving. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002. Back to U.S. Initiatives
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