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Breastfeeding and Children's Early Cognitive Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Donna S. Rothstein

    (U.S. Boreau of Labor Statistics)

Abstract

This paper investigates whether breastfeeding affects 5- to 6-year old children's cognitive development using three U.S. longitudinal data sets. The results for the full samples roughly point to a dose-response effect of breastfeeding on children's cognitive outcomes, with breastfeeding six months or more associated with about one-tenth of a standard deviation increase in cognitive test scores. The breastfeeding effects do not appear to be due to differences in maternal employment, cognitive ability, or parenting skills. In contrast, within-sibling results show no statistically significant breastfeeding effect. (No rights reserved. This work was authored as part of the Contributor's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. law.)

Suggested Citation

  • Donna S. Rothstein, 2013. "Breastfeeding and Children's Early Cognitive Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(3), pages 919-931, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:95:y:2013:i:3:p:919-931
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Conti, Valentina & Kopinska, Joanna, 2018. "The role of parental cognitive ageing in the intergenerational mobility of cognitive abilities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 38-47.
    2. Khudri, Md Mohsan & Hussey, Andrew, 2024. "Breastfeeding and Child Development Outcomes across Early Childhood and Adolescence: Doubly Robust Estimation with Machine Learning," IZA Discussion Papers 17080, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia & Inas Rashad Kelly & Muzhe Yang, 2017. "The effect of breastfeeding on young adult wages: new evidence from the add health," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 25-51, March.
    4. Bolbocean, Corneliu & Tylavsky, Frances A., 2021. "The impact of safety net programs on early-life developmental outcomes," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    5. Bar-El, Ronen & Hatsor, Limor & Tobol, Yossef, 2020. "Home production, market substitutes, and the labor supply of mothers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 378-390.
    6. Julia Hatamyar, 2022. "Workplace Breastfeeding Legislation and Female Labor Force Participation in the United States," Papers 2209.05916, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    breastfeeding; children's cognitive development;

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General

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