Loco Parentis
Persistent Effects of Violent Media Content
Jason Lindo, Isaac Swensen & Glen Waddell
NBER Working Paper, May 2020
Abstract:
We document the immediate and long-term effects of violent media. Specifically, we evaluate the effects of The Ultimate Fighter, a hit TV show that features fighters competing in violent mixed martial arts and which brought Ultimate Fighting Championship into the mainstream. We estimate the effect of early exposure to this show using panel data from police agencies across the United States and a strategy that uses network ratings prior to the show's premier as an instrumental variable. We show that early exposure significantly reduced crime: these effects are particularly evident for assault, began in the month the show premiered, and persisted for many years. These estimates do not reflect systematic differences across geographic areas in their trends in crime rates prior to 2005. To complement our main results, we also investigate the effects of "UFC Main Events," which air in bars and on Pay-Per-View. This analysis additionally suggests reductions in violence caused by viewership.
Cutting Fertility? Effects of Cesarean Deliveries on Subsequent Fertility and Maternal Labor Supply
Martin Halla et al.
Journal of Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite the growing incidence of cesarean deliveries (CDs), procedure costs and benefits continue to be controversially discussed. In this study, we identify the effects of CDs on subsequent fertility and maternal labor supply by exploiting the fact that obstetricians are less likely to undertake CDs on weekends and public holidays and have a greater incentive to perform them on Fridays and days preceding public holidays. To do so, we adopt high-quality administrative data from Austria. Women giving birth on different days of the week are pre-treatment observationally identical. Our instrumental variable estimates show that a non-planned CD at parity decreases lifecycle fertility by almost percent. This reduction in fertility translates into a temporary increase in maternal employment.
Temporary Stays and Persistent Gains: The Causal Effects of Foster Care
Max Gross
University of Michigan Working Paper, April 2020
Abstract:
6% of children in the United States enter the foster system between birth and age eighteen. Using administrative data from Michigan, I estimate the effects of foster care on children's outcomes by exploiting the quasi-random assignment of child welfare investigators. I find that foster care reduced the likelihood of being abused or neglected in the future by 50%, increased daily school attendance by 6%, and improved math test scores by 0.34 standard deviations. Gains in safety and academics emerged after children exited the foster system when most were reunified with their birth parents, suggesting that improvements made by their birth parents was an important mechanism. Given recent federal legislation to reduce foster placements, these findings indicate that child welfare systems must invest in more effective interventions to keep vulnerable children safe and thriving in their homes.
Words and Hugs: Emotional Support for Latino and Asian Children of Immigrants Compared to their White Counterparts with Native-Born Parentage
Yader Lanuza
Race and Social Problems, June 2020, Pages 112-132
Abstract:
Previous research highlights parental psychological and personal resources as determinants of children's emotional support. Less emphasis is placed on the social forces that may be equally important in shaping children's emotional sustenance. Consequently, I examine the case of Latino and Asian children of immigrants, leveraging instrumental (advice) and affective (cheering up) emotional domains. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 and quantitative methods, I find that Latino children of immigrants are less likely receive advice from their parents compared to white children with native-born parentage and Asian children with immigrant parentage, and I find that Latino and Asian children of immigrants are less likely to report cheering up from their parents compared to their white counterparts with native-born parentage. In addition, I find that, compared to whites in native-born families, Latino children of immigrants are more likely to receive emotional support from relatives (as opposed to parents), and Latino and Asian children of immigrants are more likely to receive emotional support from siblings (as opposed to parents). Although differences in parental resources explain some of these propensities, gaps remain, especially in the case of cheering up. I argue that parental resources and racialized discursive frames that dictate "normal" family functioning, including emotional performance, shape emotional support receipt differences between white children with native-born parentage and Latino and Asian children of immigrants, which can be detrimental for Latino and Asian children and may be implicated in deepening racial/ethnic inequalities.
Disparaged dads? A content analysis of depictions of fathers in U.S. sitcoms over time
Erica Scharrer et al.
Psychology of Popular Media, forthcoming
Abstract:
Social statistics show marked changes in roles and norms associated with fatherhood in U.S. society over time. This quantitative content analysis examines whether TV content has kept pace with such changes through the analysis of depictions of the father character and his interactions with children in the family-oriented situation comedy genre. In all, 578 scenes from 34 top-rated U.S. family-oriented sitcoms from 1980 through 2017 are examined to explore the depiction of the father character over time. Changes in the depiction of the father as foolish approached significance by decade but were not linear. No change occurred in proportion of humorous exchanges in which fathers were the butt of the joke. Interestingly, fathers interacted less frequently with children in key parenting behaviors, and such interactions became more likely to show the father as humorously foolish in some more recent decades compared with sitcoms from previous decades. Working class fathers were not found to be more foolishly depicted than fathers from other class positions. Implications for audiences through the lenses of social-cognitive theory and cultivation theory are discussed.
The intergenerational transmission of mathematics achievement in middle childhood: A prospective adoption design
Giulia Borriello et al.
Developmental Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present study uses a parent-offspring adoption design to examine the dual roles of heritable and environmental influences on children's mathematics achievement. Linked sets (N = 195) of adopted children, adoptive parents, and birth parents each completed a measure of mathematics fluency (i.e., simple computational operations). Birth parent mathematics achievement and adoptive father mathematics achievement positively correlated with child achievement scores at age 7, whereas adoptive mother and adopted child mathematics achievement scores were not significantly associated with one another. Additionally, findings demonstrated no significant effects of gene-environment interactions on child mathematics achievement at age 7. These results indicate that both heritable and rearing environmental factors contribute to children's mathematics achievement and identify unique influences of the paternal rearing environment on mathematics achievement in middle childhood.