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Heterogeneity in early life investments: a longitudinal analysis of children's time use
Author(s)
Date Issued
2017-01
Date Available
2017-05-05T12:52:16Z
Abstract
Early life investments in children promote skills and capabilities, and subsequently influence a variety of health, social, and economic outcomes in later life. In this paper, we examine heterogeneity in children’s time use using diary data from two waves of a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study. Children from disadvantaged households spend significantly less time reading and engaging in sport than their counterparts, and more time in unstructured activities and using media. Though gaps are relatively small at age 9, they widen considerably over time. At age 13, girls in households with low maternal education spend on average 6 minutes per day reading (95% CI 3-10) and 12 minutes per day in sport (95% CI 8-16), while girls in households with high maternal education spend 14 minutes reading (95% CI 11-17) and 27 minutes in sport (95% CI 23-31). Similar differences were found for boys. Using a decomposition analysis, we find that resources, preferences, initial endowments, and differential costs all play a role in explaining time use concentration across households, indicating that disadvantaged families may be constrained in how they choose their preferred time use options. Given the important role of extra-curricular activities in promoting cognitive and non-cognitive skill development, the systematic differences in time use we document in this paper are likely to contribute to cumulative disadvantage and widening skill gaps over adolescence and into adulthood.
Type of Material
Working Paper
Publisher
University College Dublin. Geary Institute
Series
UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy Discussion Paper Series
WP2017/03
Classification
I30
J10
J22
Language
English
Status of Item
Not peer reviewed
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
File(s)
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Name
gearywp201703.pdf
Size
818.92 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
f09000b300609db764e4a501c3575964
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