This study investigates whether early child development influences mothers’ decisions regarding when to return to the labor market in Germany. Previous research has examined how institutional, individual and household factors affect maternal work interruption durations after childbirth. This study extends the literature by focusing on the impact of children on mothers’ return-to-work behavior after childbirth and by examining mechanisms that might explain this impact. The study builds on data from NEPS Starting Cohort 1, the first large-scale newborn panel study in Germany, which provides measures on four different aspects of early child development, sensorimotor skills, habituation, regulatory capacity and negative affectivity, as well as information on mothers’ labor market behavior and household settings. The analytical sample consists of 2,548 mothers with valid child information and contains data from the first four panel waves of the study until the child is 3 years old. The results from discrete-time event history models indicate a differentiated pattern of effects of child development indicators: higher sensorimotor skills and lower regulatory capacity are weakly associated with earlier maternal employment, while habituation and negative affectivity are unrelated to mothers’ work behavior. Effects are the strongest among mothers returning to part-time work and among those with a medium level of education.

本研究调查了儿童早期发育是否会影响母亲关于何时返回德国劳动力市场的决定。先前的研究已经研究了制度、个人和家庭因素如何影响产妇分娩后的工作中断持续时间。本研究通过关注儿童对母亲分娩后重返工作岗位行为的影响并研究可能解释这种影响的机制来扩展文献。该研究以 NEPS Starting Cohort 1 的数据为基础，NEPS Starting Cohort 1 是德国首个大规模新生儿小组研究，该研究提供了关于早期儿童发育、感觉运动技能、习惯、调节能力和消极情感四个不同方面的措施，以及关于以下方面的信息：母亲的劳动力市场行为和家庭环境。分析样品包括 2，548 名具有有效儿童信息的母亲，包含从研究的前四组面板波到孩子 3 岁的数据。离散时间事件历史模型的结果表明儿童发展指标的影响模式存在差异：较高的感觉运动技能和较低的调节能力与母亲较早的就业关系微弱，而习惯和消极情感与母亲的工作行为无关。在重返兼职工作的母亲和受过中等教育的母亲中影响最大。较高的感觉运动技能和较低的调节能力与母亲较早的就业关系微弱，而习惯和消极情感与母亲的工作行为无关。在重返兼职工作的母亲和受过中等教育的母亲中影响最大。较高的感觉运动技能和较低的调节能力与母亲较早的就业关系微弱，而习惯和消极情感与母亲的工作行为无关。在重返兼职工作的母亲和受过中等教育的母亲中影响最大。