MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT AND CHILDRENS ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT - PARENTING STYLES AS MEDIATING VARIABLE

This paper provides a review and an integration of findings on the effects of parenting styles and maternal employment on children's academic achievement. A model is presented in which it is argued that maternal employment status has little, if any, direct effect on children's academic achievement. Instead, maternal employment is hypothesized to affect parenting styles which in turn affect children's academic achievement. Parenting style is thus seen as mediating the effect of maternal employment on children's academic achievement. The parenting-styles-as-mediator approach can account for some of the inconsistencies in the maternal employment literature. It is concluded that researchers interested in the effect of maternal employment should pay more attention to parenting styles and employ multivariate designs to assess moderating variables. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.