With increasing numbers of mothers entering the workforce, interest has focused on which elements and conditions of maternal employment have predictable effects on children. This investigation assessed the relationship of maternal employment factors and selected maternal attributes (career salience, maternal role investment, and maternal separation anxiety) on kindergarten children's adaptive behaviors (pro-social behaviors, anti-social behaviors, academic competence, and psychosomatic behaviors) and dependency in children of kindergarten age. The subjects were 80 Caucasian mothers and their first-born children. The social competence of children was rated by their mothers and teachers; maternal attributes were reported and self-rated by the mothers. Analyses revealed that employed mothers perceived their children to be more hyperactive/distractible, more dependent, less academically competent, and less independent, than did unemployed mothers. Teachers perceived the children of employed mothers to be less altruistic than those of unemployed mothers; mothers high in career salience reported altruism, independence, and extroversion in their children whereas the children's teachers did not. (EAJ)