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Friday, July 30, 2010

A working mom doesn't necessarily hurt child's development, study finds

A working mom doesn't necessarily hurt child's development, study finds

A working mom doesn't necessarily hurt child's development, study finds



Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 30, 2010; 2:01 PM

A new study finds that babies raised by working mothers don't necessarily suffer cognitive setbacks, an encouraging finding that follows a raft of previous reports suggesting that women with infants were wiser to stay home.
Researchers at Columbia University say they are among the first to measure the full effect of maternal employment on child development -- not just the potential harm caused by a mother's absence from the home, but the prospective benefits that come with her job, including higher family income and better child care.
In a 113-page monograph, released this week, the authors conclude "that the overall effect of 1st-year