The recent recession has impacted economic struggles in America with single mothers being hard hit with the recession. This has seen an increase in single mothers living below the poverty line by six percent from 2000 to 2009. With the rise, this research study, conducted in the three-city research was aimed at determining the link between mothers' employment with the children's long term effect on their achievement and emotional adjustments with a representative sample coming from low-income mothers and children in the cities (Lombardi, 2013). The study further reveals the aspects of the market experience of low-income mothers within two years to determine whether work characteristics were associated directly with children's behaviors and cognitive functioning.
According to the article, the child’s first year was the most critical period of development. According to the survey, the study states that there was a negative link between early maternal employment and the child's well-being concerning their behavior and emotions later on in their childhood. When the initial maternal job is thirty or more hours in a week, it would negatively impact the child’s cognitive outcomes at 36 months (Lombardi, 2013). Secondly, when it comes to a mother's employment effect on a child's cognitive behaviors, the research focuses on employment intensity, stability, and quality. These are the main aspects to be considered when looking into the effect of mothers' employment income to the child's behavioral characteristics. Concerning these factors, maternal employment characteristics alter social and economic resources which are either inhibited or prohibited according to the mothers' employer. Low economic resources mean that the child will be given limited ability to acquire the necessary resources required for successful child development.
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I disagree with the theoretical perspective of the relationship between low-income families and its effect on the child. According to the research, family stress of low-income family is influential during the child’s development process. This is done through psychological stress it exerts on parents. The ability of mothers to cushion their children from experiencing stress exerted on parents in work differs from one parent to another. Most mothers, for the love of their children, will protect their children from psychological trauma caused by work stress. The article stands on the view that due to psychological impact, mothers emotional warmth will decrease, and her parenting behavior towards her son or daughter will eventually decline. The research assumes that when all parents are stressed, they will not hold on the pressure to themselves and transfer it to their children impacting their social behavior. When the article talks about the long term and cognitive behavior, it's rather hard to understand what it means by that (Lombardi, 2013). It’s hard to distinguish whether the article talks about positive or negative behavior or the exact behavior that is impacted by the mother's income. When low-income mothers are affected, the negative effect it causes on children, what exact negative effect does it have? The article rather confuses us when we try to understand the precise kind of negative emotions and behaviors that parent’s income impact on their children.
As a social worker, the article is relevant as it is an eye-opener on the relationship that exists between parental income and children development. With the findings, we can conclude that wages of low income and single mothers should be taken into considerations when formulating policies as the impact would be seen in generations to come. In society, when we take care of single mother's salaries and benefits, we positively impact the behavior of our children and future leaders
References
Lombardi, C. M., & Coley, R. L. (2013). Low‐income mothers' employment experiences: Prospective links with young children's development. Family Relations , 62 (3), 514-528.
