ABSTRACT
The dramatic increase in paid employment among mothers of young children prompts questions concerning the impact of such employment on child outcomes. Certainly given the demonstrated links between cognition and school performance, and between school performance and adult occupational and economic outcomes, the impact of paid maternal employment on child cognitive outcomes is a topic of major concern. This question, however, cannot be addressed in isolation from the issue of the impact of alternative care arrangements on children of working mothers. Although not always addressed simultaneously, the questions are closely intertwined: The need for child care varies with the demands of employment, and the arrangements a mother can afford may vary importantly with income derived from her labor. Literature on both of these topics has progressed from studies of whether alternative care or maternal employment influences child outcomes to analysis of whether variations in maternal employment or child-care arrangements influence children positively, negatively, or not at all.
