Maternal Education, Parental Investment and Non-Cognitive Characteristics in Rural China

Jessica Leight and Elaine Liu

Working Papers from eSocialSciences

Abstract: This paper evaluates the parental response to non-cognitive variation across siblings in rural Gansu province, China, employing a household fixed effects specification; the non-cognitive measures of interest are defined as the inverse of both externalizing challenges (behavioral problems and aggression) and internalizing challenges (anxiety and withdrawal). The results suggest that there is significant heterogeneity with respect to maternal education. More educated mothers appear to compensate for differences between their children, investing more in a child who exhibits greater non-cognitive deficits, while less educated mothers reinforce these differences. Most importantly, there is evidence that these compensatory investments are associated with the narrowing of non-cognitive deficits over time for children of more educated mothers, while there is no comparable pattern in households with less educated mothers.

Keywords: eSS; non-cognitive characteristics; parental investment; intrahousehold allocation; employment; behavioral problems; aggression; anxiety; withdrawal; maternal education; non-cognitive deficits; less educated mothers; compensatory investments; China. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-06
Note: Institutional Papers
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Maternal Education, Parental Investment, and Noncognitive Characteristics in Rural China (2020)
Working Paper: Maternal education, parental investment and non-cognitive characteristics in rural China (2018)
Working Paper: Maternal Education, Parental Investment and Non-Cognitive Characteristics in Rural China (2018)
Working Paper: Maternal Education, Parental Investment and Non-cognitive Characteristics in Rural China (2016)
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