Schüller Simone, Steinberg Hannah S
German Youth Institute (DJI), Nockherstr. 2, Munich D-81541, Germany.
CESifo, Germany.
Labour Econ. 2022 Oct;78:102217. doi: 10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102217. Epub 2022 Jul 8.
What are the effects of school and daycare facility closures during the COVID-19 pandemic on parental well-being and parenting behavior? Can emergency childcare policies during a pandemic mitigate increases in parental stress and negative parenting behavior? To answer these questions, this study leverages cross-state variation in emergency childcare eligibility rules during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany and draws on unique data from the 2019 and 2020 waves of the German AID:A family panel. Employing a triple-differences approach we identify short- to medium-term intention-to-treat effects and find that while emergency care policies did not considerably affect parents' life satisfaction, partnership satisfaction or mental health, they have been effective in diminishing harsh parenting behavior. We find partly gendered effects, specifically on paternal parenting behavior. Our results suggest that decreasing parental well-being likely constitutes a general effect of the pandemic, whereas the observed increase in negative and potentially harmful parenting behavior is largely directly caused by school and daycare facility closures.
新冠疫情期间学校和日托设施关闭对父母幸福感及育儿行为有何影响？疫情期间的应急儿童保育政策能否缓解父母压力增加及消极育儿行为？为回答这些问题，本研究利用德国首次新冠疫情封锁期间应急儿童保育资格规定的州际差异，并借鉴2019年和2020年德国AID：家庭小组的独特数据。采用三重差分法，我们确定了短期至中期的意向性治疗效果，发现虽然应急护理政策对父母的生活满意度、伴侣关系满意度或心理健康没有显著影响，但它们在减少严厉育儿行为方面是有效的。我们发现了部分性别差异效应，特别是对父亲育儿行为的影响。我们的结果表明，父母幸福感下降可能是疫情的普遍影响，而观察到的消极且可能有害的育儿行为增加在很大程度上是由学校和日托设施关闭直接导致的。
