The overall goal of this project is to investigate how government work-family policies affect mothers'and fathers'decisions about work in the labor market, care arrangements for their children, and child and family well-being. These issues are important for the growing number of families where parents work, and are particularly relevant for low-income and single-parent families who may be less able to make good provisions for the care of their children without assistance from the government or employers. Building on our prior work, we will address three main questions. The first question concerns the effects of public policies on parental employment and care arrangements for families with infants. Although we know that the FMLA and state parental leave laws have increased leave coverage, we do not know how much they have increased leave usage. In particular, we know very little about fathers, and their use of leave. And, we know little about the effects of welfare (and related) policies and child care policies on the work and care arrangements of families with infants. We will examine these issues using data from the June CPS and ECLS-B. Our second, and related, question concerns the effects of public policies on parental employment and care arrangements for children after the first year of life. We have much to learn about the effects of both welfare and child care policies on parents'employment and care arrangements. We will tackle this question using data from the NLSY79, ECLS-B, and ECLS-K. Our third question concerns the impact of public policies on child and family well-being. The parental leave, welfare, and child care policies that are the focus of this research might affect child and family outcomes through a variety of mechanisms, most notably by changing employment levels and incomes, or by altering children's care arrangements. Building on our prior work, we will examine how parental leave, welfare, and child care policies affect child and family outcomes. We will also investigate the persistence of these effects, and how they are mediated or moderated by other factors including changes in employment and care arrangements, as well as household incomes. This portion of the study will use data from NLSY79, ECLS-B, ECLS-K, and NICHD-SECC.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD047215-04
Application #
7614959
Study Section
Social Sciences and Population Studies Study Section (SSPS)
Program Officer
King, Rosalind B
Project Start
2006-07-01
Project End
2011-04-30
Budget Start
2009-05-01
Budget End
2010-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$241,667
Indirect Cost
Name
Columbia University (N.Y.)
Department
Other Health Professions
Type
Schools of Social Work
DUNS #
049179401
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10027
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Lee, RaeHyuck; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne; Han, Wen-Jui et al. (2014) Is Participation in Head Start Associated with Less Maternal Spanking for Boys and Girls? Child Youth Serv Rev 46:55-63
Lee, RaeHyuck; Zhai, Fuhua; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne et al. (2014) Head start participation and school readiness: evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort. Dev Psychol 50:202-15
Lee, Raehyuck; Zhai, Fuhua; Han, Wen-Jui et al. (2013) ""Head Start and Children's Nutrition, Weight, and Health Care Receipt"" Early Child Res Q 28:
Rossin-Slater, Maya; Ruhm, Christopher J; Waldfogel, Jane (2013) The effects of California's paid family leave program on mothers' leave-taking and subsequent labor market outcomes. J Policy Anal Manage 32:224-45
Zhai, Fuhua; Waldfogel, Jane; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne (2013) Estimating the Effects of Head Start on Parenting and Child Maltreatment. Child Youth Serv Rev 35:1119-1129
Fox, Liana; Han, Wen-Jui; Ruhm, Christopher et al. (2013) Time for children: trends in the employment patterns of parents, 1967-2009. Demography 50:25-49
Han, Wen-Jui; Lee, Raehyuck; Waldfogel, Jane (2012) School Readiness among Children of Immigrants in the US: Evidence from a Large National Birth Cohort Study. Child Youth Serv Rev 34:771-782
Washbrook, Elizabeth; Waldfogel, Jane; Bradbury, Bruce et al. (2012) The development of young children of immigrants in Australia, Canada, the United kingdom, and the United States. Child Dev 83:1591-607
Miller, Daniel P; Waldfogel, Jane; Han, Wen-Jui (2012) Family meals and child academic and behavioral outcomes. Child Dev 83:2104-20

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