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Expansion of Full-Day Childcare and Subjective Well-Being of Mothers: Interdependencies with Culture and Resources

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  • Schober, Pia S.
  • Stahl, Juliane F.

Abstract

This study investigates whether an expansion of state-subsidized full-day childcare may improve the subjective well-being of mothers of children under school age by acting as a boundary-spanning resource to facilitate the combination of employment and childcare responsibilities. It extends previous studies which showed contradictory results by demonstrating that the relationship with parental subjective well-being may vary by local work-care culture and family resources. To this effect, we compare mothers in East and West Germany and mothers with and without a partner in the household, respectively. The empirical analysis links individual-level data from the Socio-Economic Panel for 2007 to 2012 and from the 'Families in Germany'-Study for 2010 to 2012 with administrative records on day-care provision at the county level. We apply fixed-effects panel models to samples of 3,203 families with a youngest child under school age. Our results show that greater provision of full-day care is modestly positively associated with satisfaction with family life and with life overall among partnered mothers in East Germany but not in West Germany. The level of full-day care availability in a county and take-up of full-day childcare, however, moderate the relationship of maternal transitions to long part-time or full-time employment with satisfaction with family life in West Germany. In both East and West Germany, switching to full-day care for the youngest child is more positively associated with satisfaction with family life for lone mothers than for partnered mothers.

Suggested Citation

  • Schober, Pia S. & Stahl, Juliane F., 2016. "Expansion of Full-Day Childcare and Subjective Well-Being of Mothers: Interdependencies with Culture and Resources," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 32(5), pages 593-606.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:180822
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    1. Herwig Immervoll & David Barber, 2005. "Can Parents Afford to Work?: Childcare Costs, Tax-Benefit Policies and Work Incentives," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 31, OECD Publishing.
    2. Michael Baker & Jonathan Gruber & Kevin Milligan, 2008. "Universal Child Care, Maternal Labor Supply, and Family Well-Being," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(4), pages 709-745, August.
    3. Brodeur, Abel & Connolly, Marie, 2013. "Do higher child care subsidies improve parental well-being? Evidence from Quebec's family policies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 1-16.
    4. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00699671 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Schröder, Carsten & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 2017. "Revisiting the evidence for cardinal treatment of ordinal variables," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 337-358.
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    3. Huebener, Mathias & Pape, Astrid & Spiess, C. Katharina, 2020. "Parental labour supply responses to the abolition of day care fees," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 510-543.
    4. Steinberg Hannah S. & Schüller Simone & Öztürk Yasmin & Klein Thilo & Schober Pia, 2024. "Alleinerziehende in der Betreuungsplatzvergabe: Status quo und Handlungsempfehlungen," Wirtschaftsdienst, Sciendo, vol. 104(5), pages 336-342, May.
    5. Verena Lauber & Johanna Storck, 2016. "Helping with the Kids? How Family-Friendly Workplaces Affect Parental Well-Being and Behavior," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1630, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Mathias Huebener & Sevrin Waights & C. Katharina Spiess & Nico A. Siegel & Gert G. Wagner, 2021. "Parental well-being in times of Covid-19 in Germany," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 91-122, March.
    7. Nikolett Somogyi & Wim Van Lancker & Rossella Ciccia & Sarah Van de Velde, 2021. "The Relationship between Familizing and Individualizing Policies and Mental Health in Parents in Europe," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, February.
    8. Jurga Bucaite-Vilke, 2021. "Family Choices on Welfare and Territorial Disadvantages: The Perception of the Child Care Services Approach in Urban and Rural Areas," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    9. Barschkett, Mara & Spieß, C. Katharina & Ziege, Elena, 2021. "Does Grandparenting Pay off for the Next Generations? Intergenerational Effects of Grandparental Care," IZA Discussion Papers 14795, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Martin Schröder, 2020. "Men Lose Life Satisfaction with Fewer Hours in Employment: Mothers Do Not Profit from Longer Employment—Evidence from Eight Panels," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 317-334, November.
    11. Georg F. Camehl & C. Katharina Spieß & Kurt Hahlweg, 2019. "Short- and Mid-Term Effects of a Parenting Program on Maternal Well-Being: Evidence for More and Less Advantaged Mothers," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1062, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Marco Giesselmann & Alexander Schmidt-Catran, 2018. "Interactions in Fixed Effects Regression Models," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1748, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    13. Camehl, Georg & Hahlweg, Kurt & Spieß, C. Katharina, 2018. "The Effects of a Parenting Program on Maternal Well-Being: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181583, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Hong, Kai & Dragan, Kacie & Glied, Sherry, 2019. "Seeing and hearing: The impacts of New York City’s universal pre-kindergarten program on the health of low-income children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 93-107.
    15. Maryam Dilmaghani & Vurain Tabvuma, 2022. "Fragile Families in Quebec and the Rest of Canada: A Comparison of Parental Work-Life Balance Satisfaction," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(2), pages 695-728, April.
    16. Sophia Schmitz, 2020. "The Impact of Publicly Funded Childcare on Parental Well-Being: Evidence from Cut-Off Rules," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(2), pages 171-196, April.
    17. Philipp, Marie-Fleur & Büchau, Silke & Schober, Pia S. & Werner, Viktoria & Spieß, C. Katharina, 2024. "How Daycare Quality Shapes Norms around Daycare Use and Parental Employment: Experimental Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 16729, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Zoch, Gundula & Bächmann, Ann-Christin & Vicari, Basha, 2020. "Care-Arrangements and Parental Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 202035, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].

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