Social-Psychological Factors in Perinatal Labor-Force Participation

Abstract

Using material from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience of Young Women this study analyzes 8 years of panel data from 895 white married women with husband present who had a 1st birth prior to the 1978 interview. This research investigates social-psychological factors that may affect exit from the labor force prior to the birth event and reentry following the birth event. Just 10 years ago only about 1 in 3 mothers with preschoolers was in the labor force; by 1984 over 1/2 were either employed or seeking work. A linear model utilizing 8 independent variables as well as 3 interaction terms was used to predict whether or not a particular woman was in the labor force at the time of the interview. Covariance analyses suggest 1) that there is a large and statistically significant effect of attitude toward married women in the work force on labor-force participation throughout the perinatal period and 2) that the effect of attitude towards married women in the work force on perinatal labor-force participation is stronger than that of proximity to the birth event age age at 1st marriage husbands income or education. The strength of the effect of a social-psychological variable suggests that further research in this area should examine the role of other social and psychological factors. Particular attention needs to be paid to how married couples perceive the costs and rewards associated with the wifes labor-force participation with the understanding that any given cost or reward will not necessarily have the same subjective meaning to different couples.