Initial inequality, unequal development: Effects of family movements on child development

Rodrigo Ceni Gonzalez, Maira Colacce () and Gonzalo Salas
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Maira Colacce: Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía

No 23-07, Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) from Instituto de Economía - IECON

Abstract: The article evaluates the link between family movements and children’s socioemotional development. Using a longitudinal survey, we can track the number and role of household members and measure the children’s development. We identify the movements of household members during the first seven years of a child’s life. Our findings indicate that the entry of a new member into the household has a negative impact of approximately 0.2 to 0.3 standard deviations on externalizing and internalizing problems, particularly among low-educated households. These entries affect household life, undermining housing quality and limiting the mother’s ability to manage her time effectively. The limited access to maternity leave and breastfeeding working conditions do intensify these inequalities. By analyzing specific movements, we observe that the father’s long-lasting absence impacts externalizing problems. These results hold strong across different samples and specifications, and our study gains causal power by employing the Oster methodology. Despite the impacts on high- and low-educated households, their background plays a role in coping with stressful environments. In low-educated households, stabilization is not achievable even after several months, further exacerbating socioemotional problems.

Keywords: family Instability; panel Data; inequality; socio-emotional development; Uruguay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J13 R20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2023-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-lam, nep-neu and nep-ure
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12008/39746

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-07-23

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