Parental Beliefs, Investments, and Child Development: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment

Pedro Carneiro, Emanuela Galasso, Italo Lopez Garcia, Paula Bedregal () and Miguel Cordero
Additional contact information
Paula Bedregal: Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Miguel Cordero: University of Bristol

No 12506, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper experimentally estimates medium term impacts of a large-scale and low-cost parenting program targeting poor families in Chile. Households in 162 public health centers were randomly assigned to three groups: a control group, a second group that was offered eight weekly group parenting sessions, and a third group that was offered the same eight group sessions plus two sessions of guided interactions between parents and children focused on responsive play and dialogic reading. In spite of its short duration and intensity, three years after the end of the intervention, the receptive vocabulary and the socio-emotional development of children of families participating in either of the treatment arms improved (by 0.43 and 0.54 standard deviation, respectively) relative to children of nonparticipating families. The treatments also led to improvements in home environments and parenting behaviors of comparable magnitudes, which far outlasted the short duration of the intervention.

Keywords: early childhood development; parenting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H43 I10 I20 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 50 pages
Date: 2019-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-hea and nep-lam
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published - revised version published as 'Impacts of a Large-Scale Parenting Program: Experimental Evidence from Chile' in: Journal of Political Economy, 2024, 132 (4), 1113–1161

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Related works:
Working Paper: Parental Beliefs, Investments, and Child Development: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment (2019)
Working Paper: Parental Beliefs, Investments, and Child Development: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment (2019)
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