 Effects of extending paid parental leave on children’s socio-emotional skills and well-being in adolescenceMikkel Aagaard Houmark, Cecilie Marie Løchte Jørgensen, Ida Lykke Kristiansen and Miriam Gensowski European Economic Review, 2024, vol. 170, issue C Abstract: We study how children’s socio-emotional skills and well-being in adolescence are affected by longer parental care during infancy. Exploiting a Danish reform that extended paid parental leave in 2002 and effectively delayed children’s entry into formal out-of-home care, we show that longer leave increases adolescent conscientiousness, emotional stability, and well-being, and reduces school absenteeism. The effects are strongest for children of mothers who would have taken short leave in the absence of the reform. For this group, longer leave also increases school grades and reduces the risk of getting a psychiatric diagnosis. This highlights how time spent with a parent is particularly productive during very early childhood. Keywords: Parental leave; Early childhood; Skill formation; Parental investments; Socio-emotional skills; Personality; Well-being; Adolescence (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:170:y:2024:i:c:s0014292124002095 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104880 Access Statistics for this article European Economic Review is currently edited by T.S. Eicher, A. Imrohoroglu, E. Leeper, J. Oechssler and M. Pesendorfer More articles in European Economic Review from Elsevier |
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