Parents' work and children's development: A longitudinal investigation of working-class families.

The current study examines the relationship between working-class mothers' and fathers' job autonomy across the 1st year of parenthood and their children's behavior problems and adaptive skills in the 1st grade. Data came from a longitudinal study of 120 couples interviewed 5 times across the transition to parenthood and again when the target child entered the 1st grade. Mothers' job autonomy and fathers' work hours during the child's 1st year of life directly predicted fewer behavior problems and more adaptive skills in their children at 6-7 years of age. For all parents a mediated relationship emerged such that greater job autonomy predicted less parenting overreactivity, which in turn predicted better child outcomes. Parent involvement was also a significant mediator linking job autonomy to children's adaptive skills but not behavior problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).