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

Author

Listed:
  • Pedro Carneiro
  • Emanuela Galasso
  • Italo Lopez Garcia
  • Paula Bedregal
  • Miguel Cordero

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Pedro Carneiro & Emanuela Galasso & Italo Lopez Garcia & Paula Bedregal & Miguel Cordero, 2019. "Parental Beliefs, Investments, and Child Development: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment," Working Papers 2019-051, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2019-051
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    Cited by:

    1. Agostinelli, Francesco & Avitabile, Ciro & Bobba, Matteo, 2021. "Enhancing Human Capital in Children: A Case Study on Scaling," TSE Working Papers 21-1196, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Oct 2023.
    2. Sebastian Gallegos & Pablo Celhay, 2020. "Early Skill Effects on Types of Parental Investments and Long-Run Outcomes," Working Papers 2020-014, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    3. Patricia Justino & Marinella Leone & Pierfrancesco Rolla & Monique Abimpaye & Caroline Dusabe & Marie D Uwamahoro & Richard Germond, 2023. "Improving Parenting Practices for Early Child Development: Experimental Evidence from Rwanda," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(4), pages 1510-1550.
    4. Britta Rude, 2024. "Middle-run educational impacts of comprehensive early childhood interventions: evidence from a pioneer program in Chile," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 1-30, June.
    5. Amaral, Sofia & Dinarte-Diaz, Lelys & Dominguez, Patricio & Perez-Vincent, Santiago M., 2024. "Helping families help themselves: The (Un)intended impacts of a digital parenting program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    6. Premand, Patrick & Barry, Oumar, 2022. "Behavioral change promotion, cash transfers and early childhood development: Experimental evidence from a government program in a low-income setting," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    7. Agostinelli, Francesco & Avitabile, Ciro & Bobba, Matteo, 2021. "Enhancing Human Capital at Scale," IZA Discussion Papers 14192, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Monteiro Amaral,Sofia Fernando & Dinarte Diaz,Lelys Ileana & Dominguez,Patricio & Perez-Vincent,Santiago M., 2021. "Helping Families Help Themselves ? Heterogeneous Effects of a Digital Parenting Program," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9850, The World Bank.
    9. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Tiffany Ho & Nicolás Salamanca, 2021. "Parental Responses to Children’s Achievement Test Results," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2021n17, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    10. Akgündüz, Yusuf Emre & Akyol, Pelin & Aydemir, Abdurrahman B. & Demirci, Murat & Kirdar, Murat Güray, 2024. "Intergenerational Effects of Compulsory Schooling Reform on Early Childhood Development in a Middle-Income Country," IZA Discussion Papers 17249, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Hickey, Grainne & McGilloway, Sinead & Leckey, Yvonne & Leavy, Shane & Stokes, Ann & O'Connor, Siobhan & Donnelly, Michael & Bywater, Tracey, 2020. "Exploring the potential utility and impact of a universal, multi-component early parenting intervention through a community-based, controlled trial," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    12. Lei Wang & Conghong Yang & Dingjing Jiang & Siqi Zhang & Qi Jiang & Scott Rozelle, 2022. "Impact of Parental Beliefs on Child Developmental Outcomes: A Quasi-Experiment in Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-16, June.
    13. John List & Julie Pernaudet & Dana Suskind, 2021. "It All Starts with Beliefs: Addressing the Roots of Educational Inequities by Changing Parental Beliefs," Framed Field Experiments 00740, The Field Experiments Website.
    14. Wang, Lei & Jiang, Dingjing & Zhang, Siqi & Rozelle, Scott, 2024. "Caregivers’ parenting beliefs, practices, and child developmental outcomes: Evidence from randomized controlled trials in rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    15. Caro, Juan Carlos, 2020. "Parental investments, socioemotional development and nutritional health in Chile," MPRA Paper 98867, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Caro, Juan Carlos, 2020. "Child development and obesity prevention: evidence from the Chilean School Meals Program," MPRA Paper 98865, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    parenting; early childhood development;

    JEL classification:

    • H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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