Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 23, 2026
06:48
Breakfast Habits among Schoolchildren in the City of Uruguaiana, Brazil
Published on: July 29, 2020
U.S. Mothers' Long-Term Employment Patterns.
Alexandra Killewald1, Xiaolin Zhuo2
1Department of Sociology, Harvard University, 675 William James Hall, 33 Kirkland St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. killewald@fas.harvard.edu.
Demography
|January 16, 2019
Summary
This study reveals five distinct long-term maternal employment patterns over 18 years. Understanding these diverse career trajectories is crucial for analyzing women's work experiences.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Economics
- Demography
Background:
- Maternal employment research often focuses narrowly on the postpartum period.
- Existing studies typically model employment as static or track single transitions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conceptualize maternal employment as a long-term pattern over 18 years postpartum.
- To identify and characterize distinct maternal employment trajectories.
- To examine factors associated with these employment patterns.
Main Methods:
- Utilized longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79 (NLSY79).
- Employed sequence analysis to identify common maternal employment patterns.
- Analyzed associations between maternal characteristics and employment patterns.
Main Results:
- Identified five distinct maternal employment patterns: full-time, part-time, nonemployment, and two reentry patterns (6 or 11 years of nonemployment).
- Found that immediate postpartum analyses fail to differentiate between nonemployment and reentry groups.
- Human capital, attitudes, family experiences, and race/ethnicity are associated with specific employment patterns.
Conclusions:
- Maternal employment should be studied as a dynamic, long-term pattern rather than a static status.
- Research approaches must account for the qualitative differences among diverse maternal employment trajectories.
- Understanding long-term patterns offers deeper insights than focusing solely on the postpartum period.
Related Concept Videos
01:29Life Histories
Constrained by limited energy and resources, organisms must compromise between offspring quantity and parental investment. This trade-off is represented by two primary reproductive strategies; K-strategists produce few offspring but provide substantial parental support, whereas r-strategists produce much progeny that receives little care. These strategies are related to an organism’s survival likelihood across its lifespan, which is represented by a survivorship curve. Three general types of...
02:20Longitudinal Research
Sometimes we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human development and lifespan. When we test the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time, we are conducting longitudinal research. Longitudinal research is a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time. For example, we may survey a group of individuals about their dietary habits at age 20, retest them a decade later at age 30, and then again...
02:57The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
According to Charles Cooley, we base our image on what we think other people see (Cooley 1902). We imagine how we must appear to others, then react to this speculation. We don certain clothes, prepare our hair in a particular manner, wear makeup, use cologne, and the like—all with the notion that our presentation of ourselves is going to affect how others perceive us. We expect a certain reaction, and, if lucky, we get the one we desire and feel good about it. But more than that, Cooley...
01:26Methods of Documentation II: POMR
The Problem-Oriented Medical Record (POMR) revolutionized medical record-keeping by introducing a systematic approach focusing on the patient's problems rather than merely listing symptoms. Dr. Lawrence Weed's introduction of this method in the 1960s marked a significant advancement in medical documentation. The POMR framework consists of four key components: the database, problem list, plan of care, and progress notes.
01:26Longitudinal Studies
Longitudinal studies are also widely used in other medical and social science fields. For instance, in cardiovascular research, they can monitor patients' health over decades to identify risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or smoking, and evaluate the long-term effectiveness of preventive measures. Similarly, in mental health studies, researchers might follow individuals from adolescence into adulthood to understand the development and progression of conditions like...
01:22Applications of Life Tables
Life tables are versatile across various fields, providing a quantitative basis for analyzing mortality and survival rates. Whether used by demographers, actuaries, epidemiologists, or sociologists, life tables offer valuable insights into the dynamics of life and death, facilitating informed decisions in public health, insurance, conservation, and beyond. Their broad applicability highlights the interconnectedness of demographic data with practical outcomes in everyday life and strategic...