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Mother’s late return home from work, family relationship, and locus of control of children: evidence from Japanese adolescents

Mai Seki et al.

Social Science Japan Journal2025https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyae034article
ABDC C
Weight
0.37

What the paper says

Abstract While previous studies have examined the link between maternal employment status and child development, the results remain inconclusive, and the underlying mechanisms are not yet well understood. A potential explanation for the mixed findings is the omission of mothers’ return home time from work, a factor that has yet to be tested in the literature. To address this gap, this study examines the relationship between mothers’ time of returning home and their children’s locus of control using a nationwide child–parent survey in Japan. The results of the entropy balancing method demonstrate that the daughters of mothers who return after 7 p.m. are more likely to believe that they lack control over their life outcomes, whereas this effect is not observed for mothers who return home by 7 p.m. This relationship is mediated by the deterioration of family relationships. Consistent with prior research, the negative association is more pronounced in households with higher socioeconomic status, while it is mitigated when fathers return home early or when children cohabit with their grandparents, highlighting the importance of caregiving by all family members. Given the increasing number of married women in full-time and managerial positions and the diffusion of teleworking, these findings are relevant for policymakers.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyae034

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@article{mai2025,
  title        = {{Mother’s late return home from work, family relationship, and locus of control of children: evidence from Japanese adolescents}},
  author       = {Mai Seki et al.},
  journal      = {Social Science Japan Journal},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyae034},
}

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Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.