Intergenerational Transmission of Maternal Employment Moderated by Recollections of Early Maternal Availability

Does mothers' employment predict the subsequent maternal employment of their daughters? Social learning theory suggests that modeling should increase under more positive relationship conditions. We examined the congruence between mothers' maternal employment and daughters' maternal employment longitudinally across 4 periods of parenthood and as a function of the daughters' retrospective reports of her mother's emotional availability during the daughters' childhood. When all periods were considered together, mothers' maternal employment was associated with increased likelihood of daughters' maternal employment. In particular, women who recalled their mothers as more emotionally available over childhood were more likely to match their own mother's maternal employment status during their own child's high school period. These findings provide support for long-term effects of modeling. Moreover, during the high school years, these findings suggest that the modeling is moderated by the quality of the childhood relationship between mother and daughter.