Early Birds in Day Care: The Social Gradient in Starting Day Care and Children's Non-cognitive Skills

Frauke Peter, Pia Schober () and Katharina Spiess ()

No 1438, Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin from DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research

Abstract: In recent years, almost all children below school age in Western industrialized countries have some experience of attending day care institutions. However, the age at which children enter day care and therefore the overall time spent in day carevaries substantially. We investigate the potential impact of later day care entry on the social and emotional behaviour of children, one important aspect of non-cognitive skills. Based on the English sample of the Millennium Cohort Study, we analyse the effects on children’s development at the age of five and seven, using propensity score techniques. We find clear evidence of effects on children’s development at the age of seven: Later day care entry increases children’s peer-problems and reduces prosocial behaviour. We find that boys with low educated mothers and from families with a household income below the poverty line are most strongly affected.

Keywords: Day care entrance; early start; socio-emotional behaviour; propensity score matching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 p.
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-eur
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Early Birds in Day Care: The Social Gradient in Starting Day Care and Children’s Non-cognitive Skills (2016)
Journal Article: Early Birds in Day Care: The Social Gradient in Starting Day Care and Children’s Non-cognitive Skills (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1438

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