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Is Biology Destiny? Birth Weight and Differential Parental Treatment

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  • Amy Hsin

Abstract

Time diaries of sibling pairs from the PSID-CDS are used to determine whether maternal time investments compensate for or reinforce birth-weight differences among children. The findings demonstrate that the direction and degree of differential treatment vary by mother’s education. Less-educated mothers devote more total time and more educationally oriented time to heavier-birth-weight children, whereas better-educated mothers devote more total and more educationally oriented time to lower-birth-weight children. The compensating effects observed among highly educated mothers are substantially larger than the reinforcing effects among the least-educated mothers. The findings show that families redistribute resources in ways that both compensate for and exacerbate early-life disadvantages. Copyright Population Association of America 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Amy Hsin, 2012. "Is Biology Destiny? Birth Weight and Differential Parental Treatment," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(4), pages 1385-1405, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:49:y:2012:i:4:p:1385-1405
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-012-0123-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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