Thinking About Kids
Trusting young children to help causes them to cheat less
Li Zhao et al.
Nature Human Behaviour, April 2024, Pages 668-678
Abstract:
Trust and honesty are essential for human interactions. Philosophers since antiquity have long posited that they are causally linked. Evidence shows that honesty elicits trust from others, but little is known about the reverse: does trust lead to honesty? Here we experimentally investigated whether trusting young children to help can cause them to become more honest (total N = 328 across five studies; 168 boys; mean age, 5.94 years; s.d., 0.28 years). We observed kindergarten children’s cheating behaviour after they had been entrusted by an adult to help her with a task. Children who were trusted cheated less than children who were not trusted. Our study provides clear evidence for the causal effect of trust on honesty and contributes to understanding how social factors influence morality. This finding also points to the potential of using adult trust as an effective method to promote honesty in children.
Child Tax Benefits and Labor Supply: Evidence from California
Jacob Goldin et al.
NBER Working Paper, April 2024
Abstract:
The largest tax-based social welfare programs in the US limit their benefits to taxpayers with labor market income. Eliminating these work requirements would better target transfers to the neediest families but risks attenuating tax-based incentives to work. We study changes in labor force participation from the elimination of a work requirement in a tax credit for parents of young children, drawing on quasi-random variation in birth timing and administrative tax records. To do so, we develop and implement a novel approach for selecting an empirical specification to maximize the precision of our estimate. The unique design of the policy along with its subsequent reform allow us to isolate taxpayers' sensitivity to conditioning child tax benefits on work -- the parameter at the center of recent debates about the labor supply consequences of reforming federal tax policy for children. We estimate that eliminating the work requirement causes very few mothers to exit the labor force, with a 95% confidence interval excluding labor supply reductions of one-third of a percentage point or greater. Our results suggest expanding tax benefits for low-income children need not meaningfully reduce labor force participation.
Child effects on positive parenting vary with neighborhood opportunity
Alexandra Burt et al.
Developmental Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Prior theoretical and empirical research has highlighted links between positive parenting and the socioeconomic characteristics of the family’s neighborhood, but has yet to illuminate the etiologic origins of this association. One possibility is that the various predictors of parenting outlined by Belsky (1984; e.g., characteristics of the child, characteristics of the parent, and contextual influences) may matter more in some neighborhood contexts than in others. To examine this possibility, we conducted etiologic moderation analyses in a sample of 1,030 families of twins (average age 8 years; 51% male, 49% female; racial composition: 82% White, 10% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Indigenous, and 6% multiracial) from the Twin Study of Behavioral and Emotional Development in Children in the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Neighborhood and parenting were assessed using multiple informants and assessment strategies (neighborhood and family informants, administrative data, and videotaped parent–child interactions). Results pointed to strong evidence of etiologic moderation, such that child effects on positive mothering were prominent in neighborhoods with little opportunity and near zero in neighborhoods with ample opportunity. Such findings not only reframe the magnitude of child effects on the parenting they receive as context-dependent, but also indicate that mothers in impoverished neighborhoods may be more responsive to their children’s characteristics than mothers in neighborhoods with ample opportunity.
Following a Child’s Lead and Setting Kids Up for Success: Convergence and Divergence in Parenting Ideologies on the Political Right and Left
Mallory Rees & Abigail Saguy
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
Public discourse has become more polarized, especially when it comes to moral issues. Moral issues related to gender and sexuality—particularly concerning children—are politically fraught. To assess the extent to which ideologies about gender and parenting are polarized, we interviewed eighty-five gender activists from diverse political orientations. Surprisingly, we found some convergence in how activists on the political left and right discussed gender and parenting. Specifically, those on the right endorsed some traditionally progressive ideas, including that girls should be able to play with “boy toys” and to aspire to traditionally male pursuits. Meanwhile, in affirming children’s right to express their gender identity, those on the left treated gender identity as innate, an idea traditionally associated with conservatives, while saying little about sexism. These similarities, notwithstanding, we also found important differences between how these two groups discussed gender socialization. We discuss the implications of these different approaches and how caregivers and other adults can reconcile a commitment to affirming children’s gender identity while also addressing gender inequalities.
Fetal genetically determined birth weight plays a causal role in earlier puberty timing: Evidence from human genetic studies
Qinghui Peng et al.
Human Reproduction, April 2024, Pages 792–800
Participants/materials, setting, methods: From the two most recent GWASs [genome-wide association studies] specifically centered on birth weight, which included 406 063 individuals and 423 683 individuals (63 365 trios) respectively, we identified genetic variants associated with fetal genetically determined birth weight, while adjusting for maternal genetic effects. We identified genetic variants associated with childhood BMI from an independent GWAS involving 21 309 European participants. On this basis, we employed two-sample MR [Mendelian randomization] techniques to examine the possible causal effects of fetal genetically determined birth weight on puberty timing using a large-scale GWAS of puberty timing (including 179 117 females of European ancestry). Furthermore, we employed advanced analytical methods, specifically MR mediation and MR-Cluster, to enhance our comprehension of the causal relationship between birth weight determined by fetal genetics and the timing of puberty. We also explored the pathways through which childhood BMI might act as a mediator in this relationship.
Main results and the role of chance: In the univariable MR analysis, a one SD decrease in fetal genetically determined birth weight (∼ 418 g) was associated with a 0.16 (95% CI [0.07–0.26]) years earlier onset of puberty. The multivariable MR analysis including fetal genetically determined birth weight and childhood BMI in relation to puberty timing provided compelling evidence that birth weight had a direct influence on the timing of puberty. Lower birth weight (one SD) was associated with an earlier onset of puberty, with a difference of 0.23 (95% CI [0.05–0.42]) years. We found little evidence to support a mediating role of childhood BMI between birth weight and puberty timing (−0.07 years, 95% CI [−0.20 to 0.06]).
Changes in Permanent Contraception Procedures Among Young Adults Following the Dobbs Decision
Jacqueline Ellison, Brittany Brown-Podgorski & Jake Morgan
JAMA Health Forum, April 2024
Methods: We used data from the TriNetX platform for this cross-sectional study. These continuously updated medical record data are largely from academic medical centers and affiliated clinics in all 4 US census regions. We used an interrupted time series study design, fitting seasonally adjusted segmented autoregressive models to assess level and slope changes in procedure rates before (January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2022) and after (June 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023) Dobbs. Sensitivity analyses with a truncated pre-Dobbs observation window (April 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022) were conducted using Stata, version 17.1 (StataCorp LLC). This research was deemed exempt from review and the need for informed consent by the Boston University Institutional Review Board owing to the use of deidentifed patient data. We followed the (STROBE) reporting guideline. Using monthly aggregate counts of tubal ligations and vasectomies, we calculated rates per 100 000 person-months among female and male patients aged 18 to 30 years. Individuals with an encounter for evaluation and management each month and no permanent contraception documented previously were included in the denominator. Visits for evaluation and management, tubal sterilization, and vasectomy procedures were identified using Current Procedural Terminology and International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes (eTable in Supplement 1). Two-sided P < .05 indicated statistical significance.
Results: Prior to Dobbs, the monthly permanent contraception rate increased by 2.84 and 1.03 procedures per 100 000 person-months among female and male patients, respectively. Dobbs was associated with an immediate level increase of 58.02 procedures and 5.31 procedures per month among female patients. Among male patients, it was associated with a level increase of 26.99 procedures and no significant change in the number of procedures per month. Findings were robust to sensitivity analyses.