Parsons, Samantha; Fitzsimons, Emla; Schoon, Ingrid; (2023) The relationship between maternal care experience and early child development: Evidence from the UK. (CLS Working Papers ). UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies: London, UK.

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Abstract

We examine the relationship between maternal out-of-home care (OHC) experience and her child’s early behavioural, emotional and cognitive development, drawing on data collected for the UK Millennium Cohort Study. We observe stark raw differences between the early development of children with OHC and non-OHC mothers, with children of OHC mothers performing worse across all domains – cognitive, behavioural and emotional. While the differences in cognitive (language) and emotional development are explained by differences in family demographic characteristics and socio-economic status, the associations between OHC and both behavioural problems and school readiness remain. Behavioural differences are explained by differences in parenting behaviours and the quality of the parent-child relationship across OHC and non-OHC mothers; school readiness differences are fully attenuated once maternal health and wellbeing measures are accounted for. Our paper highlights the importance of support for care leavers who become parents and for nurturing parent-child relationships in helping to break the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage.

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