IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ehbiol/v56y2025ics1570677x24001151.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cognitive or non-cognitive? The effect of maternal dominance on adolescent human capital: Evidence from adolescents' educational decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Chengkui
  • Ren, Feirong
  • Yang, Liuyi
  • Fan, Wei
  • Huang, Xiongcai

Abstract

Using data from the 2014 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study finds that when mothers hold dominant positions in their children's educational decisions, they are more likely to adopt a "tiger mom" approach. This dynamic explains why maternal dominance in educational decisions significantly enhances adolescents' cognitive abilities while hindering their non-cognitive skills. We propose time investment, material investment, and parenting styles as channel variables that offer a more comprehensive explanation. It is clear that as mothers have the decision-making authority in children's education, parents allocate more time to daily care and homework tutoring and provide additional extracurricular learning resources for adolescents, ultimately enhancing their cognitive abilities. Meanwhile, parents tend to be more demanding. Conversely, the mothers' dominance in the children's educational decisions results in reduced investment in leisure time, with no statistically significant effects on parents' responsiveness and activities related to talent development, mental growth, and parent-child bonding. The above three mechanisms indicate that when mothers hold dominant positions in their children's educational decisions, they are more likely to adopt a "tiger mom" approach to fostering their children's human capital development. These findings partially explain the negative effect on adolescents' non-cognitive abilities. In conclusion, these findings underscore the critical role of the tiger mom in shaping adolescents' cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. Efforts should be made to promote the holistic development of adolescents' cognitive and non-cognitive abilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Chengkui & Ren, Feirong & Yang, Liuyi & Fan, Wei & Huang, Xiongcai, 2025. "Cognitive or non-cognitive? The effect of maternal dominance on adolescent human capital: Evidence from adolescents' educational decisions," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:56:y:2025:i:c:s1570677x24001151
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101463
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X24001151
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101463?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Haochen & Qin, Xuezheng & Zhou, Jiantao, 2020. "Do tiger moms raise superior kids? The impact of parenting style on adolescent human capital formation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    2. Bruins, Marianne, 2017. "Women's economic opportunities and the intra-household production of child human capital," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 122-132.
    3. James Heckman & Flavio Cunha, 2007. "The Technology of Skill Formation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 31-47, May.
    4. Pedro Carneiro & Costas Meghir & Matthias Parey, 2013. "Maternal Education, Home Environments, And The Development Of Children And Adolescents," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11, pages 123-160, January.
    5. Duncan Thomas, 1990. "Intra-Household Resource Allocation: An Inferential Approach," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(4), pages 635-664.
    6. Maitra, Pushkar, 2004. "Parental bargaining, health inputs and child mortality in India," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 259-291, March.
    7. Matthias Doepke & Michèle Tertilt, 2019. "Does female empowerment promote economic development?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 309-343, December.
    8. Pedro Carneiro & Katrine V. Løken & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2015. "A Flying Start? Maternity Leave Benefits and Long-Run Outcomes of Children," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(2), pages 365-412.
    9. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman & Susanne M. Schennach, 2010. "Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(3), pages 883-931, May.
    10. Bharati Basu & Pushkar Maitra, 2020. "Intra‐household bargaining power and household expenditure allocation: Evidence from Iran," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 606-627, May.
    11. Randall Akee & William Copeland & E. Jane Costello & Emilia Simeonova, 2018. "How Does Household Income Affect Child Personality Traits and Behaviors?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(3), pages 775-827, March.
    12. Lixing Li & Xiaoyu Wu & Yi Zhou, 2021. "Intra-household bargaining power, surname inheritance, and human capital accumulation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 35-61, January.
    13. Nicoletti, Cheti & Tonei, Valentina, 2020. "Do parental time investments react to changes in child’s skills and health?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    14. Gary S. Becker & Nigel Tomes, 1994. "Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 257-298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Chiappori, Pierre-Andre, 1992. "Collective Labor Supply and Welfare," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(3), pages 437-467, June.
    16. Heckman, James J. & Moon, Seong Hyeok & Pinto, Rodrigo & Savelyev, Peter A. & Yavitz, Adam, 2010. "The rate of return to the HighScope Perry Preschool Program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1-2), pages 114-128, February.
    17. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman, 2008. "Formulating, Identifying and Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    18. Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes, 2018. "Women’s empowerment in agriculture and dietary quality across the life course: Evidence from Bangladesh," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 21-36.
    19. Agnes R. Quisumbing & John A. Maluccio, 2003. "Resources at Marriage and Intrahousehold Allocation: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and South Africa," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(3), pages 283-327, July.
    20. Lépine, Aurélia & Strobl, Eric, 2013. "The Effect of Women’s Bargaining Power on Child Nutrition in Rural Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 17-30.
    21. Amy Hsin, 2009. "Parent’s Time with Children: Does Time Matter for Children’s Cognitive Achievement?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 123-126, August.
    22. McElroy, Marjorie B & Horney, Mary Jean, 1981. "Nash-Bargained Household Decisions: Toward a Generalization of the Theory of Demand," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 22(2), pages 333-349, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Janet Currie & Maya Rossin‐Slater, 2015. "Early‐Life Origins of Life‐Cycle Well‐Being: Research and Policy Implications," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(1), pages 208-242, January.
    2. Nicoletti, Cheti & Tonei, Valentina, 2017. "The Response of Parental Time Investments to the Child's Skills and Health," IZA Discussion Papers 10993, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Li, Han & Li, Jiangyi & Lu, Yi & Xie, Huihua, 2023. "Do housing regulations affect child development? Evidence and mechanisms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    4. Elizabeth M. Caucutt & Lance Lochner & Youngmin Park, 2017. "Correlation, Consumption, Confusion, or Constraints: Why Do Poor Children Perform so Poorly?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(1), pages 102-147, January.
    5. James J. Heckman & Stefano Mosso, 2014. "The Economics of Human Development and Social Mobility," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 689-733, August.
    6. Emilia Del Bono & Marco Francesconi & Yvonne Kelly & Amanda Sacker, 2016. "Early Maternal Time Investment and Early Child Outcomes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(596), pages 96-135, October.
    7. Matthias Doepke & Michèle Tertilt, 2019. "Does female empowerment promote economic development?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 309-343, December.
    8. Levin, Mark (Левин, Марк) & Matrosova, Ksenia (Матросова, Ксения), 2018. "Development and Research of Economic Behavior of Households in Changing Conditions [Разработка И Исследование Экономического Поведения Домохозяйств В Изменяющихся Условиях]," Working Papers 041825, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    9. Chen, Jiwei & Zhang, Zongli, 2024. "Family poverty and adolescents’ cognitive and noncognitive outcomes: Evidence from China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    10. Christian T. Litchepah & Issidor. Noumba & Mohammadou. Nourou, 2022. "Does reducing violence against women improve children’s health? The case of Cameroon," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(6), pages 187-194, June.
    11. Jorge Luis García & James J. Heckman, 2023. "Parenting Promotes Social Mobility Within and Across Generations," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 15(1), pages 349-388, September.
    12. Ao, Xiang & Chen, Xuan & Zhao, Zhong, 2022. "Is care by grandparents or parents better for children's non-cognitive skills? Evidence on locus of control from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    13. Xu, Hui & Zhang, Zheyuan & Zhao, Zhong, 2023. "Parental socioeconomic status and children’s cognitive ability in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    14. Elizabeth M. Caucutt & Lance Lochner, 2020. "Early and Late Human Capital Investments, Borrowing Constraints, and the Family," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(3), pages 1065-1147.
    15. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman & Susanne M. Schennach, 2010. "Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(3), pages 883-931, May.
    16. James J. Heckman, 2008. "Schools, Skills, And Synapses," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 46(3), pages 289-324, July.
    17. Francesconi, Marco & Heckman, James J, 2015. "Symposium on Child Development and Parental Investment: Introduction," Economics Discussion Papers 16868, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    18. Rossin-Slater, Maya & Wüst, Miriam, 2016. "What is the Added Value of Preschool? Long-Term Impacts and Interactions with a Health Intervention," IZA Discussion Papers 10254, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Maya Rossin-Slater & Miriam Wüst, 2016. "What is the Added Value of Preschool for Poor Children? Long-Term and Intergenerational Impacts and Interactions with an Infant Health Intervention," NBER Working Papers 22700, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Nunley, John M. & Seals Jr., Richard Alan, 2011. "Child-custody reform, marital investment in children, and the labor supply of married mothers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 14-24, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:56:y:2025:i:c:s1570677x24001151. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622964 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.