Working mothers and social-emotional competencies of their children

A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of a total of 985 families (parents and children) of 3rd, 4th and 6th graders at different levels in the tripartite German school system was conducted to gain insight into socialization variables connected with maternal employment as to their impact on pupils' social-emotional competencies. Fathers' participation in household and educational tasks (answered by fathers), mothers' well-being and mode of parenting (both answered by mothers) were postulated to mediate between mothers' employment and social-emotional competencies of the children. Mediation analyses showed that fathers' participation mediated the correlation between mothers' employment and mental health. Authoritative parenting partially mediated the correlation between mothers' well-being and children's social-emotional competencies as seen by their mothers. No direct correlation was found between maternal employment and social-emotional competencies. Statistical path analyses revealed that congruence of desired and practiced working status was more relevant for mothers' well-being and children's social-emotional competencies than the amount of hours mothers worked.