Parenting Differences
Law's Normative Influence on Gender Schemas: An Experimental Study on Counteracting Workplace Bias against Mothers and Caregivers
Catherine Albiston & Shelley Correll
Law & Social Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
Status-based theories of labor market inequality contend that, even when workers have identical qualifications and performance, employers evaluate them differently based on stereotypes about their status group. Gender and parenthood are status characteristics that affect decisions about hiring, pay, and promotion through stereotypes that mothers should not work, fathers should not take leave, and caregivers of either gender are less reliable, committed workers. We contend that family-leave laws mitigate these status effects by conveying a consensus that both men and women can legitimately combine work and family. An experiment testing this theory shows that, when the law is not salient, participants pay mothers (whether or not they take leave) and fathers who take leave less and rate them as less promotable than other identical workers. Participants also rate these employees as less competent, committed, and congenial than other identical workers. By contrast, when participants review family-leave laws before they evaluate employees, they treat mothers and caregivers no worse than other workers. Reviewing an organizational family-leave policy did not reduce the effects of stereotypes as much as reviewing formal law. These findings suggest that making law salient during workplace evaluations can reduce inequality through law's expressive effects.
Adverse Childhood Experiences in Military, Veteran, and Civilian Families
Melanie Sberna Hinojosa et al.
Armed Forces & Society, forthcoming
Abstract:
Adverse childhood experiences are traumatic early life experiences that can lead to poorer mental, physical, and social outcomes. Children in military and veteran families can face unique challenges compared with civilian families. This study utilizes data from 2017-2019 National Survey of Children's Health to examine 56,655 children living in military, veteran, and civilian families to predict the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences. Findings indicate that children living in veteran families (compared with civilian families) have higher odds of witnessing parents use violence and witnessing parents with alcohol or substance use problems. Children in military families had higher odds of divorce and lower odds of experiencing parental death. It is also noted that children living in military, veteran, and civilian families are similar across other ACEs including the incarceration of a parent, child as victim of violence, living with family with mental illness, unfair treatment because of race, and difficulty covering basics like food and housing.
Does Unconditional Cash during Pregnancy Affect Infant Health?
Krista Ruffini
Georgetown University Working Paper, March 2023
Abstract:
This paper examines how cash transfers that are not conditional on employment affect infant health. Leveraging variation in the amount of pandemic-era stimulus and child tax credit payments that families received based on household composition, I find that an additional $100 in transfers reduces the prevalence of low birthweight by 2-3 percent. Effects are larger for payments received later in pregnancy, but are of a similar magnitude across the population. These additional resources increased prenatal care and improved maternal health in ways that are consistent with families both increasing investments in children's health and improving the prenatal environment.
The mindset of birth predicts birth outcomes: Evidence from a prospective longitudinal study
Lisa Hoffmann, Norbert Hilger & Rainer Banse
European Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In this paper we explore whether mental representations about birth (birth-related mindsets) assessed during pregnancy can predict labour and birth in the sense that the perception of birth as a natural (rather than a medical) event increases the probability of a low-intervention birth. Birth, in turn, might affect short-term and long-term psychological well-being. These assumptions were tested in a longitudinal study (N = 311), spanning the first half of pregnancy and up to 6 months after birth. The results of a single indicator model displayed a sequential process: women who held a more natural mindset prenatally were more likely to have low-intervention births, which resulted in a more positive evaluation of the birth experience, which in turn predicted well-being in the first weeks after birth (measured with ecological momentary assessment), and subsequently postpartum depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms 8 weeks after birth as well as mother-infant bonding 6 months after birth. The study demonstrates the relevance of psychological factors for childbirth. The construct of a birth-related mindset could contribute to a better understanding of childbirth and help to make women's birth experiences safer and more satisfying and to improve the transition to motherhood.
The impact of dopamine receptor D4, temperamental negativity, and household chaos on young twins' externalizing behaviors
Matthew Jamnik & Lisabeth Fisher DiLalla
Developmental Psychobiology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Biological and genetic factors, as well as contextual influences, contribute to the etiology of externalizing behaviors in children and adolescents. The current project used a longitudinal design to examine how individual vulnerability for externalizing behavior is influenced by the interplay among biological/genetic and environmental factors, and how this occurs across development. We investigated the influence of dopamine receptor D4 genotype (DRD4), child temperament, and household chaos on children's externalizing behaviors using a sample of twins/triplets tested at the ages of 4 and 5 years (n = 229), including a subset of these who were tested again in middle childhood (ages 7-13 years; n = 174). Multilevel linear regression modeling demonstrated that the DRD4-7repeat genotype, 4-year-old negative affectivity, and household chaos at the age of 4 years were related to 5-year-old externalizing behaviors. Stability in externalizing behaviors from the age of 5 years to middle childhood was demonstrated. A significant interaction between DRD4 and household chaos showed that children with no 7-repeat DRD4 alleles had significantly higher levels of externalizing in homes with extremely low levels of parent-reported chaos, suggesting a "goodness-of-fit" pattern of gene-environment interaction. These findings suggest that risk for childhood externalizing behaviors is likely multifaceted and differs across developmental periods.
The impact of paid sick leave mandates on women's health
Meredith Slopen
Social Science & Medicine, April 2023
Abstract:
The United States does not have a national program to provide job-protected paid leave to workers when they or a family member are ill or need to seek medical care. Many workers receive paid sick leave through their employers, but women, particularly parents, those without a college degree, and Latinas, are less likely than their counterparts to receive employer-provided paid sick leave (PSL). To address the shortfall in PSL coverage, several states and localities have passed laws mandating employers to provide PSL. I examine the impacts of three recent state-level paid sick leave policies on women's self-reported health using data from the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System. Using static and event-study difference-in-differences models, I find that PSL mandates decreased the proportion of women reporting fair or poor health by an average of 2.4 percentage points and reduced the number of days women reported their physical and mental health was not good by 0.68 days and 0.43 days in the past 30 days respectively. Effects were concentrated among parents, women without college degrees, and women of color. This study demonstrates that despite being a low-intensity policy, PSL improves women's health and well-being and that mandating workplace benefits may play a role in achieving health equity.