Mother's education and early childhood educational care

Betul Akar, Pelin Akyol and Cagla Okten
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Betul Akar: The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
Pelin Akyol: Department of Economics, Bilkent University
Cagla Okten: Department of Economics, Bilkent University

JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, 2025, vol. 91, issue 3, 458-486

Abstract: We analyze the impact of extending mandatory education from five to eight years on mothers’ involvement in early childhood educational activities, using data from the Turkish Time Use Survey. The compulsory education reform substantially increased the likelihood of mothers completing at least middle school (eight years of schooling). However, it had no significant effect on mothers’ time spent on early childhood educational activities, such as reading, playing, and talking to children. Instead, the reform increased mothers’ total time with children, particularly through housework and social activities involving children. These findings suggest that studies linking maternal education to greater time investment in childcare may suffer from omitted variable bias, as unobserved factors like maternal intelligence and values influence both educational attainment and childcare behaviors. Our findings are critical given that nearly half of pre-primary-age children globally are not enrolled in formal education and primarily remain in home settings.

Keywords: Child care; Maternal education; Time use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-09-30
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ctl:louvde:v:91:y:2025:i:3:p:458-486

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