Impact of Maternal Employment on Child Academic Performance Aged 16 - 20 Years: An Indian Perspective

The relationship between maternal employment and the academic performance of adolescents has been a subject of growing interest, particularly in India, where traditional family structures and evolving economic roles of women intersect with educational outcomes. Maternal employment refers to the labor force affiliation of mothers with children 0 - 18 years. This term, however, includes a wide variety of labor force participation patterns, from full-time work to part-time work, including contract work as well as working out at home [1]. Academic performance refers to the extent to which the student to which a student teacher or an institution achieves their educational goal, often measured through grades, test scores, and overall achievement in school [2]. This study evaluates the psychological impact of working mothers on the academic performance of their children, highlighting particularly the role of mothers in the same. It aims to emphasize the role of mothers in nurturing early teenagers with reference to their social, cultural as well as academic development. This study aims to empirically analyze the impact of work stress, along with the absence of motherly care on a child’s academic development, in turn identifying the extent. With the adoption of a quantitative research design, the study will have a sample size of 150 pairs of parents and children (of age group 16 - 20), chosen through the process of stratified sampling. The tool used to assess the variable (Likert scale) will be altered in reference to the dependent and independent variables. The study also aims to identify other sub-variables like work-life balance and emotional stress of mothers through the Likert scale. It, in turn, aims to justify that the academic performance of a child is largely correlated with that of the child’s relationship with the mother. The findings of the study indicate that there is no significant correlation between maternal employment and the academic performance of teenagers. The research suggests that maternal stress, often associated with employment, does not negatively affect children’s academic outcomes. Instead, the results conclude that most adolescents can manage their academic responsibilities independently, regardless of their mother’s employment status.