An early return to work by the mother reduces the child's chances of progressing to A-level from 60% to 50%. The employment patterns of the father have little effect, said the study by John Ermisch and Marco Francesconi, professors at Essex University.
They found that in Britain, the adverse effect on children was the same whether mothers returned to work full time before the child's first birthday or before the age of five. This ran counter to studies overseas suggesting that a return to work in the first year had more impact on the child.