Parental Impact on Filipino Early Childhood Development*

人们越来越强调生命的最初几年对整个生命周期的健康和生产力至关重要 并且已经做出越来越多的努力来改善幼儿发展。但鲜为人知的 关于发展中国家幼儿发展的决定因素，包括家庭背景的重要性。的 家长补助金“菲律宾幼儿发展：纵向分析”为这个FIRCA申请 试图填补这一知识差距的一部分，通过：（1）收集人口研究办公室（OPS）， 菲律宾关于0-4岁儿童及其家庭、幼儿发展服务提供者的纵向数据， 在2001年启动新的幼儿发展计划之前，社区进行了三轮随访;（2） 分析幼儿发展计划的影响;（3）通过合作进行能力建设。这个FIRCA 申请是为了对父母背景对幼儿发展和产妇保健的影响进行新的分析， 在收集的数据、获得的知识和根据《生物多样性公约》发展的合作研究关系的基础上， 家长补助金--但要超越家长项目。具体的FIRCA主题由OPS开发 工作人员的基础上，他们的专业知识和研究兴趣，并在大量熟悉的基础上， 菲律宾儿童和孕产妇保健的现状和差距， 学科视角。技术/生物“生产函数”的构建 幼儿发展（或产妇保健）直接取决于父母选择的投入，也取决于 父母将被用来组织父母背景对幼儿发展的直接影响（或 产妇保健）。对替代规范的探索将提供重要的见解， 是大多数文献中用于正确估计和解释因果关系的强有力的假设 家庭背景对幼儿发展和产妇保健的影响。简化形式的需求关系， 家庭背景的直接和间接影响将进一步揭示家庭资源和 行为影响幼儿发展和孕产妇健康。本次FIRCA研究以OPS为中心，由OPS员工领导， 这些研究将丰富我们对父母背景对幼儿发展和孕产妇健康的关键影响的认识 这将有助于在低收入情况下提供保健服务，并使项目事务处能够进一步加强分析能力。

The initial years of life are increasingly emphasized as critical for health and productivity over the life cycle and increasing efforts have been made to improve early childhood development (ECD). Yet little is known about determinants of ECD in developing countries, including the importance of family background. The parent grant on "Filipino Early Childhood Development: Longitudinal Analysis" for this FIRCA application attempts to fill part of this knowledge gap through: (1) collection by the Office of Population Studies (OPS) in the Philippines of longitudinal data on children aged 0-4 and their families, ECD services providers, and communities in 2001prior to initiation of a new ECD program with three rounds of follow-updata; (2) analyses of impacts of the ECD program; and (3) capacity-building through collaboration. This FIRCA application is for new analyses of effects of parental background on ECD and on maternal health care, building on data collected, knowledge gained, and collaborative research relations developed under the parent grant -- but going beyond the parent project. The specific FIRCA topics have been developed by OPS staff based on their expertise and research interests and are grounded in substantial familiaritywith the current state of and gaps in understanding of child and maternal health in the Philippines from a varietyof disciplinary perspectives. The construct of technological/biological "production functions" for indicators of ECD (or of maternal health) dependent directly on inputs chosen by the parents and on inputs exogenous to parents will be used to organize empirical investigation of direct impacts of parental background on ECD (or on maternal health). Exploration of alternative specifications will provide essential insights into how important are strong assumptions used in most of the literature for correct estimation and interpretation of causal impacts of family background on.ECD and maternal health. Reduced-formdemand relations that incorporate both direct and indirect effects of family background will provide further insight on how family resources and behaviors affect ECD and maternal health. This FIRCA research, centered at OPS with OPS staff leading the studies, will enrich our knowledge of critical effects of parental background on ECD and maternal health care in a low-income context, as well as permit further analytical capacity-building at OPS.