Work-Family Policies and Child and Family Well-Being

描述(申请人提供)：这个项目的总体目标是调查政府的工作-家庭政策如何影响父母在劳动力市场上的工作、对孩子的照顾安排以及儿童和家庭幸福的决定。这些问题对于越来越多的父母工作的家庭来说很重要，对于低收入和单亲家庭来说尤其重要，因为如果没有政府或雇主的帮助，这些家庭可能无法很好地为照顾孩子做好准备。在我们先前工作的基础上，我们将解决三个主要问题。第一个问题涉及公共政策对有婴儿家庭的父母就业和照料安排的影响。虽然我们知道FMLA和州育儿假法律增加了假期覆盖范围，但我们不知道它们增加了多少假期使用。特别是，我们对父亲及其休假的使用知之甚少。而且，我们对福利(及相关)政策和儿童保育政策对有婴儿的家庭的工作和照顾安排的影响知之甚少。我们将使用6月份CPS和ECLS-B的数据来研究这些问题。我们的第二个和相关的问题涉及公共政策对父母就业和第一年后儿童的照料安排的影响。关于福利和儿童保育政策对父母就业和照看安排的影响，我们有很多需要学习的地方。我们将使用NLSY79、ECLS-B和ECLS-K的数据来解决这个问题。我们的第三个问题涉及公共政策对儿童和家庭福祉的影响。作为本研究重点的育儿假、福利和儿童保育政策可能会通过各种机制影响儿童和家庭的结果，最显著的是通过改变就业水平和收入，或者通过改变儿童保育安排。在之前工作的基础上，我们将研究育儿假、福利和儿童保育政策如何影响儿童和家庭结果。我们还将调查这些影响的持续性，以及这些影响是如何受到其他因素的调节或缓解的，这些因素包括就业和护理安排以及家庭收入的变化。这部分研究将使用来自NLSY79、ECLS-B、ECLS-K和NICHD-SECC的数据。

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.