How Do Parents Perceive the Returns to Parenting Styles and Neighborhoods?

Lukas Kiessling

No 2020_14, Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods from Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods

Abstract: This paper studies parental beliefs about the returns to two factors affecting the development and long-term outcomes of children: (i) parenting styles defined by the extent of warmth and control parents employ in raising children, and (ii) neighborhood quality. Based on a representative sample of 2,119 parents in the United States, I show that parents perceive large returns to the warmth dimension of parenting as well as neighborhood quality, and document that parenting is perceived to compensate for the lack of a good environment. Mothers expect larger returns than fathers, but there is no socioeconomic gradient in perceived returns despite a high degree of heterogeneity. Furthermore, I introduce a measurement error correction by leveraging beliefs measured in two different domains, and show that parents’ perceived returns relate to their actual parenting styles. My results suggest that parental beliefs are an important determinant of parental decision-making, but cannot explain socioeconomic differences in parenting.

Keywords: Beliefs; Parenting styles; Neighborhoods; Child outcomes; Human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D19 I24 I26 J13 J24 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-ore
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Journal Article: How do parents perceive the returns to parenting styles and neighborhoods? (2021)
Working Paper: How Do Parents Perceive the Returns to Parenting Styles and Neighborhoods? (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2020_14

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