Parental Beliefs, Perceived Health Risks, and Time Investment in Children: Evidence from COVID-19

50 Pages Posted: 6 Dec 2022

See all articles by Gabriella Conti

Gabriella Conti

University of Chicago; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Michele Giannola

University of Naples Federico II

Alessandro Toppeta

University College London - Department of Economics

Abstract

When deciding how to allocate their time among different types of investment in their children, parents weigh up the perceived benefits and costs of different activities. During the COVID-19 outbreak parents had to consider a new cost dimension when making this decision: the perceived health risks associated with contracting the virus. What role did parental beliefs about risks and returns play for the allocation of time with children during the pandemic? We answer this question by collecting rich data on a sample of first-time parents in England during the first lockdown, including elicitation of perceived risks and returns to different activities via hypothetical scenarios. We find that parents perceive their own time investment to be (i) more productive and (ii) less risky than the time spent by their children in formal childcare or with peers. Using open-ended questions about their pandemic experience and detailed time use data on children's daily activities, we then show that parental beliefs are predictive of actual investment choices, and are correlated with parental feelings derived from sentiment analysis. Lastly, we show that less educated parents perceive both lower returns and lower risks from investments, potentially causing a further widening of pre-existing inequalities in early years development, and suggesting the need for targeted informational interventions.

Keywords: parental beliefs, health risks, time investments, childcare, text data, coronavirus, COVID-19

JEL Classification: I12, I26, J13

Suggested Citation

Conti, Gabriella and Giannola, Michele and Toppeta, Alessandro, Parental Beliefs, Perceived Health Risks, and Time Investment in Children: Evidence from COVID-19. IZA Discussion Paper No. 15765, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4291702 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4291702

Gabriella Conti (Contact Author)

University of Chicago ( email )

1101 East 58th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Michele Giannola

University of Naples Federico II

Naples
Italy

Alessandro Toppeta

University College London - Department of Economics ( email )

Drayton House, 30 Gordon Street
30 Gordon Street
London, WC1H 0AX
United Kingdom

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