IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp17265.html

Family Stress and the Intergenerational Correlation in Self-Control

Author

Listed:
  • Cobb-Clark, Deborah A.

    (University of Sydney)

  • Tayeb, Haniene

    (ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course)

Abstract

We examine the correlation in self-control between parents and their young-adult children. Analyzing two decades of population-representative panel data, we exploit variation in the family environment during childhood to investigate how family stress related to: i) parenting responsibilities; ii) parents' relationship quality; iii) household finances; and iv) poor mental health shapes the transmission of self-control across generations. A finite mixture model is used to account for unobserved heterogeneity in young adults' capacity for self-control. Our results indicate that some young people may be particularly sensitive to growing up in a stressful environment, opening the door for family stress to shape the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage through the formation of self-control.

Suggested Citation

  • Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Tayeb, Haniene, 2024. "Family Stress and the Intergenerational Correlation in Self-Control," IZA Discussion Papers 17265, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17265
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp17265.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heckman, James & Singer, Burton, 1984. "A Method for Minimizing the Impact of Distributional Assumptions in Econometric Models for Duration Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 271-320, March.
    2. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2012. "The Intergenerational Transmission of Risk and Trust Attitudes," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(2), pages 645-677.
    3. Kong, Nancy & Phipps, Shelley & Watson, Barry, 2021. "Parental economic insecurity and child health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    4. Deb, Partha & Trivedi, Pravin K., 2002. "The structure of demand for health care: latent class versus two-part models," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 601-625, July.
    5. Supreet Kaur & Michael Kremer & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2022. "Erratum: Self-Control at Work," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(8), pages 2223-2224.
    6. Deb, Partha & Gallo, William T. & Ayyagari, Padmaja & Fletcher, Jason M. & Sindelar, Jody L., 2011. "The effect of job loss on overweight and drinking," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 317-327, March.
    7. Okumura Tsunao & Usui Emiko, 2014. "Do Parents’ Social Skills Influence Their Children’s Sociability?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 1081-1116, July.
    8. Maria Zumbuehl & Thomas Dohmen & Gerard Pfann, 2021. "Parental Involvement and the Intergenerational Transmission of Economic Preferences, Attitudes and Personality Traits," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(638), pages 2642-2670.
    9. Watson Nicole & Wooden Mark, 2021. "The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 241(1), pages 131-141, February.
    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. Sarah Brown & William Greene & Mark Harris, 2020. "A novel approach to latent class modelling: identifying the various types of body mass index individuals," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 183(3), pages 983-1004, June.
    2. Gregory, Christian & Deb, Partha, "undated". "Who Benefits Most from SNAP?," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 236648, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Brenøe, Anne Ardila & Epper, Thomas, 2022. "Parenting values and the intergenerational transmission of time preferences," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Akay, Alpaslan & Martinsson, Peter & Tesemma, Tewodros, 2025. "Positional Concerns across Generations," Working Papers in Economics 859, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    5. Relwendé Sawadogo & Gervasio Semedo, 2021. "Financial inclusion, income inequality, and institutions in sub-Saharan Africa: Identifying cross-country inequality regimes," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 167, pages 15-28.
    6. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Olivieri, Elisabetta & Triviza, Eleftheria, 2024. "Eating habits, food consumption, and health: The role of early life experiences," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    7. Dahmann, Sarah C. & Kettlewell, Nathan & Lam, Jack, 2022. "Parental Separation and the Formation of Economic Preferences," IZA Discussion Papers 14993, IZA Network @ LISER.
    8. Dardanoni, Valentino & Li Donni, Paolo, 2012. "Incentive and selection effects of Medigap insurance on inpatient care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 457-470.
    9. Bago d'Uva, Teresa & Jones, Andrew M. & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2009. "Measurement of horizontal inequity in health care utilisation using European panel data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 280-289, March.
    10. Rasmane Ouedraogo & Windemanegda Sandrine Sourouema & Hamidou Sawadogo, 2021. "Aid, growth and institutions in Sub‐Saharan Africa: New insights using a multiple growth regime approach," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 107-142, January.
    11. Chen, Yefeng & Yang, Wenyuan & Luo, Gansong & Luo, Jun, 2024. "Choosing tournament for children: Parenting style and information intervention," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    12. Sisira Sarma & Wayne Simpson, 2006. "A microeconometric analysis of Canadian health care utilization," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(3), pages 219-239, March.
    13. Helmut Farbmacher & Peter Ihle & Ingrid Schubert & Joachim Winter & Amelie Wuppermann, 2017. "Heterogeneous Effects of a Nonlinear Price Schedule for Outpatient Care," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(10), pages 1234-1248, October.
    14. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Dahmann, Sarah C. & Kamhöfer, Daniel A. & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah, 2025. "Schooling and Self-Control," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    15. Deb Partha & Trivedi Pravin K., 2013. "Finite Mixture for Panels with Fixed Effects," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 35-51, July.
    16. Jonas Tungodden & Alexander Willén, 2023. "When Parents Decide: Gender Differences in Competitiveness," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(3), pages 751-801.
    17. Kasahara Hiroyuki & Shimotsu Katsumi, 2012. "Testing the Number of Components in Finite Mixture Models," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd12-259, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    18. Brown, Sarah & McHardy, Jolian & Taylor, Karl, 2014. "Intergenerational analysis of social interaction and social skills: An analysis of U.S. and U.K. panel data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 43-54.
    19. Sunday Azagba & Mesbah Sharaf, 2011. "The effect of job stress on smoking and alcohol consumption," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-14, December.
    20. Vincenzo Atella & Francesco Brindisi & Partha Deb & Furio C. Rosati, 2004. "Determinants of access to physician services in Italy: a latent class seemingly unrelated probit approach," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(7), pages 657-668, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    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:iza:izadps:dp17265. 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: Mark Fallak (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaalu.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.