Contemporary expectations of good parenting hold that focused, intensive parental attention is essential to children's development. Parental input is viewed as a key determinant in children's social, ...psychological and educational outcomes, with the early years particularly crucial. However, increased rates of maternal employment mean that more parents are juggling work and family commitments and have less non‐work time available to devote to children. Yet studies find that parental childcare time has increased over recent decades. In this paper, we explore the detail of this trend using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Time Use Survey (TUS), 1992 and 2006. To investigate whether discourses on intensive parenting are reflected in behaviour, we examine a greater range of parent–child activities than has been undertaken to date, looking at trends in active childcare time (disaggregated into talk‐based, physical and accompanying care activities); time in childcare as a secondary activity; time spent in the company of children in leisure activities; and time spent in the company of children in total. We also investigate whether the influence of factors known to predict parental time with children (gender, education, employment status and the age of children) have changed over time. We contextualize our analyses within social and economic trends in Australia and find a compositional change in parental time, with more active childcare occurring within less overall time, which suggests more intensive, child‐centred parenting. Fathers' parent–child time, particularly in physical care, increased more than mothers' (from a much lower base), and tertiary education no longer predicts significantly higher childcare time.
Rigorous evidence regarding the impact of early care and education on children's development comes primarily from high-income nations. A few studies from Latin America and the Caribbean have ...identified benefits of conditional cash transfer and home visiting programs on children's development. However, there is still controversy around the impact and cost-effectiveness of childcare approaches. Further research is needed to understand how scaled-up childcare settings may support the development of low-income children in Latin America.
To that end, the present study sought to identify the effects of exposure to a subsidized childcare program in Colombia on children's nutritional status, cognitive and socioemotional development. This community-based program, known as Hogares Comunitarios de Bienestar (HCB), serves 800 thousand low-income children under age 6, delivering home-based childcare, supplementary nutrition, and psychosocial stimulation. We analyzed data on 10,173 program beneficiary children (ages 3–6) collected in 2007. We compared beneficiary children who had been in the program for a long time with beneficiary children who had been in the program for a month or less, by age group, to estimate program exposure effects. We used a matching estimator to correct for self-selection into different exposure levels.
Results indicated that cognitive development improved 0.15 to 0.3 of a standard deviation (SD) after at least 15 months of exposure for children between 3 and 6 years of age. Socioemotional skills improved 0.12 to 0.3 SD for children older than 3 after at least 15 months of program exposure. No significant gains were found for nutritional status. The estimated benefit-cost ratio ranged from 1.0 to 2.7, depending upon varying discount rates. Findings lend support for a potentially effective strategy to promote the development of low-income children in Colombia and other developing nations.
► We estimated effects of length of exposure to the largest public childcare program in Colombia on children's development. ► We found modest effects of the program on children's cognitive and socioemotional development but not on nutritional status. ► Scores on cognitive development were up to 0.3 SD higher for older children exposed to the HCB program 15 months or longer. ► Older children exposed to the HCB program for at least 15 months exhibited less withdrawal and isolation behaviors. ► The estimated benefit-cost ratio suggests that the HCB program may potentially afford beneficiaries a modest increase future earnings.
As more and more countries consider expanding public childcare provision, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of its implications for families. This article adds to the existing ...literature by investigating the effect of publicly funded childcare on parental subjective well-being. To establish causality, I exploit cut-off rules introduced following the implementation of a legal claim to childcare in Germany. The results suggest that childcare provision strongly increases the life satisfaction of mothers who were previously constrained by the lack of childcare supply. The effect is more pronounced for mothers with higher labour market attachment. The coefficients for fathers are smaller and not statistically significant. As potential mechanisms, a wide range of time-use and labour market outcomes are explored. This shows that mothers indeed shift time from non-market activities to formal work in response to childcare eligibility, resulting in direct and indirect pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns to maternal life satisfaction. The findings shed light on key issues of work–family reconciliation and stress the importance of considering subjective well-being measures in family policy evaluations.
Improving child nutrition and empowering women are two important and closely connected development goals. Fostering female employment is often seen as an avenue to serve both these goals, especially ...if it helps to empower the mothers of undernourished children. However, maternal employment can influence child nutrition through different mechanisms, and the net effect may not necessarily be positive. We develop a theoretical model to show that maternal employment can affect child nutrition through changes in income, intrahousehold bargaining power, and time available for childcare. The links are analyzed empirically using panel data from farm households in rural Tanzania. We find that the links between maternal employment and child height‐for‐age Z‐scores (HAZ) are non‐linear. Off‐farm employment is negatively associated with child HAZ at low levels of labor supply. The association turns positive at higher levels of labor supply and negative again at very high levels. The associations between maternal on‐farm work and child nutrition are weaker and not statistically significant. These findings can help to better design development interventions that foster synergies and avoid potential tradeoffs between female empowerment and child nutrition goals.
We show that close geographical proximity to mothers or mothers-in-law has a substantial positive effect on the labor supply of married women with young children. We argue that the mechanism through ...which proximity increases labor supply is the availability of childcare. We interpret availability broadly enough to include not only regular scheduled childcare during work hours but also an insurance aspect of proximity (e.g., a mother or mother-in-law who can to provide irregular or unanticipated childcare). Using two large datasets, the National Survey of Families and Households and the public use files of the U.S. Census, we find that the predicted probability of employment and labor force participation is 4–10 percentage points higher for married women with young children living in close proximity to their mothers or their mothers-in-law compared with those living further away.
We find that the introduction of two weeks of paid paternity leave in Spain in 2007 led to delays in subsequent fertility. Following a regression discontinuity design and using rich administrative ...data, we show that parents who were (just) entitled to the new paternity leave took longer to have another child compared to (just) ineligible parents. We also show that older eligible couples were less likely to have an additional child within the following six years after the introduction of the reform. We provide evidence in support of two potentially complementary channels behind the negative effects on subsequent fertility. First, fathers' increasing involvement in childcare led to higher labor force attachment among mothers. This may have raised the opportunity cost of an additional child. We also find that men reported lower desired fertility after the reform, possibly due to their increased awareness of the costs of childrearing, or to a shift in preferences from child quantity to quality.
•Two weeks of paid paternity leave in Spain led to delays in subsequent fertility.•Parents (just) entitled to the new leave took longer to have another child.•Eligible couples were less likely to have another child within the next six years.•We provide evidence in support of two potentially complementary channels.
•Material hardship, subjective financial stress, and household income impact the role of cost in parents’ childcare decisions.•Economic hardships are household constraints that shape parents’ ...childcare decisions.•Household income, subjective financial stress, and material hardship are independent dimensions of economic hardship.•The role of cost in childcare decisions varies by demographic group, suggesting unique barriers and constraints.
The high cost of US childcare has become burdensome to most families with young children, yet little is known about how childcare costs shapes parental childcare decisions. This study addresses a critical gap in knowledge by examining how economic hardships shape parental childcare decisions, along with the individual and community characteristics associated with the influence of cost on childcare decisions. Guided by the accommodation model and family stress model, we used data from a statewide consumer survey in Iowa to conduct the first known study to examine associations between household constraints (i.e., economic hardships) and respondent reports that cost influenced their childcare decisions at least once in the previous year (i.e., systemic barriers to childcare). As hypothesized, each form of economic hardship was associated with increased odds of cost influencing childcare decisions. Our logistic regression demonstrated that every standard deviation increase in our financial stress scale resulted in a 110% increase in the odds of cost influence, while each additional experience of material hardship (out of 16) increased the odds of cost influence by 10%. Additionally, we identified demographic variations, with cost playing a more prominent role for people who were Hispanic/any race, unemployed, and were between the ages of 18- to 34-years old. Overall, findings demonstrate that economic hardships are constraints that, coupled with systemic barriers like cost, shape childcare decisions across demographic groups, communities, and income brackets. Findings also suggest the need for more public support to alleviate the costs of childcare among all families, such as expanding childcare subsidies or funding the provision of care, which may mitigate the risk of negative outcomes associated with economic hardship.
This study evaluates the short-run impact of an increase in childcare subsidies on the use of paid childcare and the participation rate of mothers of preschool children. We use a natural experiment ...provided by the PAJE, a French reform in family allowances introduced in 2004. This reform temporarily creates discrepancies in the childcare subsidies received by families according to the year of birth of the children. We apply a difference-in-differences strategy on exhaustive French fiscal data that provide information on gross income as well as on the use of paid childcare services between 2005 and 2008. We use the fact that the new policy results in a significant increase in the use of paid childcare services. The effect on the labor force participation of mothers is significant but of a smaller magnitude. The highest impact is observed for mothers of large families.
•We evaluate a sharp increase in childcare subsidies for some French families.•The impact on the labor force participation of mothers is significant but small.•The highest impact is observed for mothers of large families.•One-child mothers work more often full-time thanks to the childcare subsidies.•Higher subsidies probably led to a substitution of paid care for informal care.
Childcare in the United States is an important issue impacting parents as they navigate a landscape characterized by challenging choices between parental care only, the price of paid childcare, and ...largely unpaid kin care. Drawing on guidance from the accommodation model, the current work extends the examination of childcare choices by including non-paid care and by using a sample of families across a broad range of incomes. Data from a statewide childcare survey linked to information regarding proximity of kin, unpaid childare, childcare prices, and other potentially relevant community characteristics are used in the empirical work. Multivariate analyses treat the mother's employment decision and childcare choices as simultaneous decisions. We find that childcare choices are linked to community caracteristics inlcuding the price of licenced family-based childcare, proximity of kin, the percentage of adults in the community who have a college degree, and the community level unemployment rate. Our work suggests that childcare resource agencies should look at a range of community characteristics beyond area-level poverty rates when identifying communities of high need. The role of childcare information flows from the community to parents should also be the subject of future research.
The objective of this study was to explore the meal-related thought processes, planning, and purchasing behaviors of primary caregivers on weeknights. A mixed-methods study design was applied using a ...cross-sectional survey and qualitative interviews. Thirty-three primary caregivers from early childhood education centers were enrolled in the study. Descriptive statistics of sample characteristics were conducted and an a-priori thematic analysis of interview recordings was completed using NVivo Qualitative software. The following key themes were identified: satisfaction with dinner, feeding behaviors before the COVID-19 pandemic, regretful feeding experiences, meal planning, food purchasing, social support, and general feelings about dinner preparation and cooking. Important considerations for food purchasing included family satisfaction, price, convenience, and healthfulness. Satisfaction around dinner choices varied, with dissatisfaction often related to a bad workday, being stressed, or making meals that family members disliked. Findings demonstrate the need for more research and interventions around the topic of meal planning and preparation, specifically for working parents, that further examine tasks required for providing meals, the physical and cognitive time for meal preparation, and helpful means of support.
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