Center-Based Care and Parenting Activities

49 Pages Posted: 21 Sep 2022 Last revised: 14 Apr 2023

See all articles by Jonas Jessen

Jonas Jessen

IZA; IAB

C. Katharina Spiess

Federal Institute for Population Research; Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Sevrin Waights

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)

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Abstract

We examine the relationship between parenting activities and center-based care using time diary and survey data for mothers in Germany. While mothers using center-based care spend significantly less time in the presence of their child, we find that differences in the time spent on specific activities such as reading, talking, and playing with the child are relatively small or zero. The pattern of results is more pronounced for lower education mothers. The lack of large decreases in activities are explained by two factors: (i) that center care replaces time that parents spend with the child but are doing other things such as housework or leisure (a small direct effect), and (ii) that evenings become relatively more activity-rich (a compensating indirect effect). For the intensive margin (full-day vs. half-day) we find more additional reductions in parenting activities, but these are compensated for by lower education mothers during non-center hours. Our findings represent novel evidence that activities in the home environment are a complement to center-based care, highlighting a credible additional mechanism for child development effects of center-based care.

Keywords: child care, Oster method, time use, parenting investments, child development

JEL Classification: D13, I21, J13

Suggested Citation

Jessen, Jonas and Spiess, C. Katharina and Waights, Sevrin, Center-Based Care and Parenting Activities. IZA Discussion Paper No. 14851, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4225230 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4225230

IAB

Germany

C. Katharina Spiess

Federal Institute for Population Research ( email )

Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 4
Wiesbaden, Hessia 65185
Germany

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Saarstr. 21
Jakob Welder-Weg 4
Mainz, 55122
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Sevrin Waights

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) ( email )

Mohrenstraße 58
Berlin, 10117
Germany

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