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The role of parental investments for cognitive and noncognitive skill formation: Evidence for the first 11 years of life

Author

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  • Coneus, Katja
  • Laucht, Manfred
  • Reuß, Karsten

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of parental investments on the development of cognitive, mental and emotional skills during childhood using data from a longitudinal study, the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, starting at birth. Our work offers three important innovations. First, we use reliable measures of the child's cognitive, mental and emotional skills as well as accurate measures of parental investment. Second, we estimate latent factor models to account for unobserved characteristics of children. Third, we examine the skill development for girls and boys separately, as well as for children who were born with either organic or psychosocial risk. We find a decreasing impact of parental investments on cognitive and mental skills, while emotional skills seem to be unaffected by parental investment throughout childhood. Thus, initial inequality persists during childhood. Since families are the main sources of education during the first years of life, our results have important implications for the quality of the parent-child relationship.

Suggested Citation

  • Coneus, Katja & Laucht, Manfred & Reuß, Karsten, 2010. "The role of parental investments for cognitive and noncognitive skill formation: Evidence for the first 11 years of life," ZEW Discussion Papers 10-028, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:10028
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Heckman & Flavio Cunha, 2007. "The Technology of Skill Formation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 31-47, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Pfeiffer, Friedhelm & Reuss, Karsten, 2013. "Improving Educational Investments: A Welfare Analysis for Europe," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 13(3), pages 77-94.
    2. repec:eee:labeco:v:45:y:2017:i:c:p:59-78 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Reuß, Karsten, 2011. "Determinants of personality and skill development in the Socio-emotional environment during childhood," MPRA Paper 82818, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Cuesta, Maite Blázquez & Budría, Santiago, 2015. "Income deprivation and mental well-being: The role of non-cognitive skills," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 16-28.
    5. Berggren, Niclas & Ljunge, Martin, 2017. "Does Religion Make You Sick? Evidence of a Negative Relationship between Religious Background and Health," Working Paper Series 1173, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    6. Sandner, Malte, 2012. "The effects of early childhood intervention on child development and early skill formation. Evidence from a randomized experiment," Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century 62036, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Blomeyer Dorothea & Laucht Manfred & Coneus Katja & Pfeiffer Friedhelm, 2013. "Early Life Adversity and Children’s Competence Development: Evidence from the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 233(4), pages 467-485, August.
    8. Sandner, Malte, 2013. "Effects of Early Childhood Intervention on Child Development and Early Skill Formation. Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-518, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    9. Belfield, Clive R. & Kelly, Inas Rashad, 2013. "Early education and health outcomes of a 2001 U.S. Birth Cohort," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 310-325.
    10. Dercon, Stefan & Sánchez, Alan, 2013. "Height in mid childhood and psychosocial competencies in late childhood: Evidence from four developing countries," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 426-432.
    11. Sandner, Malte & Jungmann, Tanja, 2016. "How much can we trust maternal ratings of early child development in disadvantaged samples?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 73-76.
    12. Berggren, Niclas & Nilsson, Therese, 2015. "Globalization and the transmission of social values: The case of tolerance," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 371-389.
    13. Weinschenk, Philipp, 2012. "Skill formation under incomplete information," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 209-217.
    14. Pfeiffer, Friedhelm & Reuß, Karsten, 2013. "Education and lifetime income during demographic transition," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-021, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    cognitive skills; noncognitive skills; critical and sensitive periods; self-productivity; inequality; organic risk; psychosocial risk;

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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