IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/diw/diwsop/diw_sp1219.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Child Sick Care-Related Absence from Work and the Consequences on Parents’ Income

Author

Listed:
  • Ayhan Adams
  • Katrin Golsch

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of child-related absence from work on the income of working mothers and fathers, addressing a significant research gap in sociology and labour economics. While previous research has established that gender and parenthood significantly influence income levels, the consequences of caring for a sick child—a common and unpredictable responsibility—remain inadequately explored. We utilise longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2010-2022) to examine how the accumulation of absence days due to child illness affects income levels and changes in income over four years among parents while controlling for various job and family-related characteristics. Our findings indicate that increased absenteeism related to child sickness adversely affects fathers’ income, aligning with signalling theory, which suggests that absent workers may be perceived as less committed by employers. In contrast, mothers appear to experience less significant income impacts from similar absences, indicating that the stigma associated with absence days may be less pronounced. Additionally, we investigate the role of socio-economic status in these effects, finding that higher income positions do not amplify the negative signalling associated with child-related absenteeism for fathers. Meanwhile, we observed no association between mothers’ income and child sickness-related absence when distinguishing between higher and lower income positions, potentially indicating prevailing gendered expectations in the workplace. The results underscore the need for further research into the socio-economic implications of caring for a sick child and employer perceptions to gain deeper insights into the dynamics of work-life balance and career consequences.

Suggested Citation

  • Ayhan Adams & Katrin Golsch, 2025. "Child Sick Care-Related Absence from Work and the Consequences on Parents’ Income," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1219, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
  • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1219
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.941567.de/diw_sp1219.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aretz, Bodo, 2013. "Gender Differences in German Wage Mobility," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 80003, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    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. Gulgun Bayaz-Ozturk & Richard V. Burkhauser & Kenneth A. Couch, 2014. "Consolidating The Evidence On Income Mobility In The Western States Of Germany And The United States From 1984 To 2006," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 431-443, January.
    2. Markus Jäntti & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2013. "Income Mobility," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 607, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    3. repec:zbw:rwirep:0536 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Christina Boll & Malte Jahn & Andreas Lagemann, 2017. "The gender lifetime earnings gap—exploring gendered pay from the life course perspective," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 25(1), pages 1-53, March.
    5. Aysit Tansel & Başak Dalgıç & Aytekin Güven, 2019. "Wage Inequality and Wage Mobility in Turkey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 107-129, February.
    6. Nicole Gürtzgen & André Diegmann (né Nolte), 2020. "Does low‐pay persist across different regimes? Evidence from German Unification," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 413-440, July.
    7. Gürtzgen, Nicole & Hank, Karsten, 2015. "The labor market consequences of political imprisonment in the former GDR," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113134, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Andreas Kappeler & Andrés Fuentes Hutfilter, 2014. "Making Economic Growth more Socially Inclusive in Germany," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1175, OECD Publishing.
    9. Aysit Tansel & Başak Dalgıç & Aytekin Güven, 2019. "Wage Inequality and Wage Mobility in Turkey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 107-129, February.
    10. Nolte, Andre & Gürtzgen, Nicole, 2015. "Changing Fortunes during Economic Transition - Low-Wage Persistence before and after German Unification," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112828, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Coban, Mustafa, 2017. "Wage mobility, wage inequality, and tasks: Empirical evidence from Germany, 1984-2014," Discussion Paper Series 139, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Chair of Economic Order and Social Policy.
    12. Schaffner, Sandra & Treude, Barbara, 2014. "The Effect of Ethnic Clustering on Migrant Integration in Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 536, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    13. Christina Boll & Malte Jahn & Andreas Lagemann, 2018. "The gender lifetime earnings gap—exploring gendered pay from the life course perspective," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 25(1), pages 1-53, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    child sick care; income; gender; signalling theory;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1219. 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: Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sodiwde.html .

    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.