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This research has shown that education is a key correlate of the life-course of both women and their children. Whilst mother's age at first birth, maternal employment and childcare play a role, maternal education appears to be a very strong determinant of a child's future success. To what extent it is a fundamental determinant, serving to enlighten and raise skills in childrearing, a reflection of capabilities inherited from home rather than school, or a signal for social sorting, has not been fully established. Whatever lies behind educational attainment, it accounts for much of the difference in outcomes between early and late mothers and in the development of their children. This also suggests that policies which limit educational failure, such as provision of basic skills, and prolonging and supporting years in education are likely to stem the polarization between early and late mothers and their children and help the next generation.
The independent association of young age at motherhood with poorer or delayed cognitive and behavioural scores at age three may just reflect unmeasured disadvantages experienced by the minority of women who become mothers in their teens and early twenties. However, their lack of maturity, may compound the disadvantages facing their children. If so, government policies to reduce unintended teenage motherhood through information and support could improve the prospects for both the women and the children they have at a later age. However, there is no evidence here to suggest that the gains to postponing motherhood continue indefinitely, at least beyond the early thirties.
We find little evidence for maternal employment in the first year systematically either harming or promoting child development. We find childcare having both positive and negative associations with different aspects of child development. This suggests that policies that make childcare available to mothers across the spectrum are likely to benefit both mothers and children, but that attention needs to be paid to its quality. The development of integrated childcare centres under the Sure Start programme and other childcare policies aimed at improving the quality of childcare may have positive spill- over effects on some child outcomes. It may also help to reduce the polarity between advantaged and disadvantaged family backgrounds.