New research claims that having a working mother produces better emotional outcomes for girls than having a mother who stays at home. 
However, the report relies for its conclusions on the opinions of the mothers themselves about their children’s behaviour rather than on objective data.
The study does not mention how many hours the children in question spent in childcare per day.
The report, carried out by researchers from University College London and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, looked at data on 12,000 children from the British Millennium Cohort Study.
The study examined information on the children over a period of five years. Mothers were asked to report on behavioural issues such as hyperactivity, aggression, nervousness, clinging, and difficulties relating to peers affecting their children at the ages of three and five.
The study compared this information with data on who was working in the child’s household, as well as on income, education and whether the mother was depressed.
It found no detrimental effect of mothers working could be seen on behaviour.
The study also showed that girls whose mothers had not been in the labour force at all were 50 per cent more likely to have behavioural difficulties at age five as those whose mothers had worked throughout.
However, the researchers said that it was the mothers themselves who reported on their child’s behaviour, introducing the problem of reporting bias.
The study’s authors said: “It is possible that maternal perceptions of their child’s behaviour were influenced by how much time they spent at work away from their children.”
Other studies have suggested that children whose mothers are in paid employment are more likely to be overweight, to have bad dietary habits and to be less physically active.
Studies carried out by Professor Jay Belsky of Birbeck College suggest that an increase in levels of aggression and disobedience among children is correlated with a greater amount of time spent in childcare at an early age.
According to a 2006 study, children left in creches tend to experience significantly higher levels of stress. The effect is especially marked upon children younger than three. A 2009 study suggested that the effect of this may be long lasting. Research looking at nine different institutions found that, fifteen years after children had been in childcare, their stress levels remained abnormally high, even after controlling for parents’ income level, ethnicity, parental sensitivity or the quality of the childcare provided.
Recent Irish figures suggest that demand for childcare places here may not be as high as usually thought.
Only 31 per cent pre-school children are looked after outside the home for part of each day, according to Central Statistics Office figures from 2009. These children are mainly looked after in Montessori schools and playgroups. A further 13 per cent are looked after by non-parental relatives.
Meanwhile, a recent poll commissioned by the Centre for Policy Studies in the UK shows that an overwhelming number of women believe that it is better for a mother with two children under five to either work part time or full-time in the home if there is a working father, and it is not essential financially for her to work full-time.
Fifty per cent of women believed it was better for a mother in that situation to work part time, with 41 per cent believing she should be at home fulltime. Only two per cent of women believed that it was better for her to work full-time.