Mother's Employment and Parent-Youth Similarity

Abstract

The effects of maternal employment on parent-youth similarity is examined using a sample of 647 father-mother-youth triads. Maternal employment has few impacts on the father's influence except for fathers having slightly greater influence in expressive areas. Maternal employment appears to lower the influence of the mother. This result is especially strong for women who are working in lowstatus positions indicating that the status of the mother's employment is a critical factor. The combined influence of the parents does not appear to be significantly different whether or not the mother works. Associational and affective solidarity between the post-adolescent children and their parents appear to play a minimal role in the level of parent-child similarity. At the aggregate level, children of mothers who have high-status work positions tend to be more liberal and less traditional than children of mothers who work in low-status positions or who are housewives.