Work-Family Policies and Child and Family Well-Being

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this project is to investigate how government work-family policies affect mothers' and fathers' decisions about work in the labor market, care arrangements for their children, and child and family well-being. These issues are important for the growing number of families where parents work, and are particularly relevant for low-income and single-parent families who may be less able to make good provisions for the care of their children without assistance from the government or employers. Building on our prior work, we will address three main questions. The first question concerns the effects of public policies on parental employment and care arrangements for families with infants. Although we know that the FMLA and state parental leave laws have increased leave coverage, we do not know how much they have increased leave usage. In particular, we know very little about fathers, and their use of leave. And, we know little about the effects of welfare (and related) policies and child care policies on the work and care arrangements of families with infants. We will examine these issues using data from the June CPS and ECLS-B. Our second, and related, question concerns the effects of public policies on parental employment and care arrangements for children after the first year of life. We have much to learn about the effects of both welfare and child care policies on parents' employment and care arrangements. We will tackle this question using data from the NLSY79, ECLS-B, and ECLS-K. Our third question concerns the impact of public policies on child and family well-being. The parental leave, welfare, and child care policies that are the focus of this research might affect child and family outcomes through a variety of mechanisms, most notably by changing employment levels and incomes, or by altering children's care arrangements. Building on our prior work, we will examine how parental leave, welfare, and child care policies affect child and family outcomes. We will also investigate the persistence of these effects, and how they are mediated or moderated by other factors including changes in employment and care arrangements, as well as household incomes. This portion of the study will use data from NLSY79, ECLS-B, ECLS-K, and NICHD-SECC.