Theses and Dissertations from UMD

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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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    Full-time Motherhood: Understanding Transition Dynamics
    (2006-04-27) Smith, Kristin Elizabeth; Bianchi, Suzanne M; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In this dissertation, I investigate the determinants of labor force exits and entrances among married mothers with children under 15 considering work, family, and demographic characteristics, using the Survey of Income and Program Participation 1996 panel data. Three theoretical streams guide the research and interpret the findings--neoclassical economic theory, the life course perspective, and the gender perspective. Using discrete-time event history analysis, I find that wives who outearn their husbands are more likely to exit the labor force. An interaction with other family income (excluding the wife's earnings) reveals that the main effect of the wife as a primary provider is negative, and primary provider wives are more likely to exit the labor force as other family income rises. I also find that married mothers who delay childbearing are more likely to exit the labor force. An interaction with personal earnings lends support to the life course perspective's argument that delayed childbearers may believe that they can reenter the labor force without suffering downward mobility, as high earners who delay childbearing more likely to exit labor force. However, an interaction with education level does not, as delayed childbearers with a college degree are less likely to exit the labor force. It appears that entrances are driven more by the human capital attributes and labor force commitment of the mother than by family considerations. The effect of predicted wages on entrances into part-time employment is positive, suggesting that married mothers who are predicted to attain higher wages may be able to use their higher market value to negotiate part-time employment. Labor force exits do not appear to differ by the reason for the labor force exit--the determinants of labor force exits appear to be similar regardless of whether the mother exits to care for children and family or for other reasons. However, full-time mothers seem to be less inclined to enter the labor force than other mothers as full-time mothers with high predicted earnings are not more likely to enter the labor force and the introduction of a new baby is not related to a labor force entrance.
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    Mothers' Level of Attachment to the Labor Market Following the Birth of a Second Child
    (2004-05-05) Peltola, Pia; Kahn, Joan; Sociology
    ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: MOTHERS’ LEVEL OF ATTACHMENT TO THE LABOR MARKET FOLLOWING THE BIRTH OF A SECOND CHILD Pia Kristiina Peltola, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation directed by: Professor Joan Kahn Department of Sociology Increased employment of mothers with infants has prompted an avalanche of studies about how mothers balance paid work and family. Most of that research has focused on how the birth of the first child impacts mothers’ employment. Less is known about what happens after the birth of a second child. Combining the life course perspective with the classic labor supply theory and employing the 1979-1998 NLSY data, this study examines how mothers balance paid work and family when they have two children. Some comparisons are made between the first and a second birth. The first comparison, the survival distribution of mothers’ return to market work, finds no significant difference in the rate at which mothers return to employment after the first and a second birth. The results of Cox hazard models show some similarities and some differences in the determinants for the timing of return to paid work after the two births. They also highlight the importance of considering the impact of past life experiences on current decisions. Results of the competing risk models show that some predictors for full time and part time returns differ. This study also examines what mothers’ employment is like after returning to paid work by examining mothers’ employment hours during the preschool years of the second child. Very different employment patterns are observed between those who began working full time and those who started part time. The changes in employment hours during this period would be missed without longitudinal data. The large number of mothers dropping out of the labor force over the five-year period suggests that reports focusing on the return to market work only overestimate mothers’ economic activity. Fluctuations in the employment hours underline the dynamic nature of the balancing act: the equilibrium keeps shifting as children grow older, and mothers keep readjusting and chasing the optimal balance between care work and market work.