Search Results

Author: Vidal-Fernández, Marian
Resulting in 8 citations.
1. Fletcher, Jason
Vidal-Fernández, Marian
Wolfe, Barbara L.
Dynamic and Heterogeneous Effects of Sibling Death on Children's Outcomes
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 115,1 (2 January 2018): 115-120.
Also: http://www.pnas.org/content/115/1/115.abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences (NAS), United States
Keyword(s): Cognitive Development; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Parental Investments; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Siblings; Trauma/Death in family

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper explores the effects of experiencing the death of a sibling on children's developmental outcomes. Recent work has shown that experiencing a sibling death is common and long-term effects are large. We extend understanding of these effects by estimating dynamic effects on surviving siblings' cognitive and socioemotional outcomes, as well as emotional and cognitive support by parents. Using the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (CNLSY79), we find large initial effects on cognitive and noncognitive outcomes that decline over time. We also provide evidence that the effects are larger if the surviving child is older and less prominent if the deceased child was either disabled or an infant, suggesting sensitive periods of exposure. Auxiliary results show that parental investments in the emotional support of surviving children decline following the death of their child.
Bibliography Citation
Fletcher, Jason, Marian Vidal-Fernández and Barbara L. Wolfe. "Dynamic and Heterogeneous Effects of Sibling Death on Children's Outcomes." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 115,1 (2 January 2018): 115-120.
2. Fletcher, Jason
Vidal-Fernández, Marian
Wolfe, Barbara L.
Dynamic Effects of Sibling Death on Children’s Outcomes
Working Paper, University of New South Wales, Centre for Applied Economic Research, January 2013.
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: University of New South Wales
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Age at First Birth; Alcohol Use; Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Mortality; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC); Trauma/Death in family

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper explores the effects of experiencing the death of a sibling on children’s outcomes. Recent work has shown that experiencing a sibling death is common and the long-term effects are large. We extend our understanding by estimating the dynamic effects on cognitive, non- cognitive and home environmental measures as the surviving children age using the Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). We first examine the family level predictors of experiencing the death of a child. Because families who experience a death may differ from other families, we compare the trajectories of children before and after experiencing a sibling death only among families who experience a death. We find large initial effects on cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes that decline over time and also provide evidence that the effects are larger if the surviving child is older, suggesting sensitive periods of exposure. Auxiliary results suggest that parental inputs decline following the death but also that, for some families, children’s outcomes rebound following the death of a sibling who had significant disabilities.
Bibliography Citation
Fletcher, Jason, Marian Vidal-Fernández and Barbara L. Wolfe. "Dynamic Effects of Sibling Death on Children’s Outcomes." Working Paper, University of New South Wales, Centre for Applied Economic Research, January 2013..
3. Lehmann, Jee-Yeon K.
Nuevo-Chiquero, Ana
Vidal-Fernández, Marian
Birth Order Differences in Early Inputs and Outcomes
Working Paper, Department of Economics, University of Houston, March 2013
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: University of Houston
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Birth Order; Breastfeeding; Educational Attainment; Home Environment; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Motor and Social Development (MSD); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Racial Differences; Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We examine within-family differences in pre- and early postnatal investments as potential explanations for the “birth order effect” – significant differences in the educational and labor market outcomes across children of varying birth orders. Taking advantage of the rich information on in utero and early childhood conditions in the Children of the NLSY79, we find that, within the same household, siblings of higher birth order experience a lower reduction in cigarette usage during pregnancy, are breastfed less often, and experience less cognitive stimulation and emotional support at ages 0 to 1. Next, we test for the presence of birth order effects in early cognitive/non-cognitive test scores and educational attainment and examine whether these differences can be explained by variations in prenatal and early childhood inputs. While we do find a significant negative relationship between birth order and early test scores as well as educational attainment, these effects are robust to controlling for variations in early childhood factors.
Bibliography Citation
Lehmann, Jee-Yeon K., Ana Nuevo-Chiquero and Marian Vidal-Fernández. "Birth Order Differences in Early Inputs and Outcomes." Working Paper, Department of Economics, University of Houston, March 2013.
4. Lehmann, Jee-Yeon K.
Nuevo-Chiquero, Ana
Vidal-Fernández, Marian
Explaining the Birth Order Effect: The Role of Prenatal and Early Childhood Investments
IZA Discussion Paper No. 6755 (July 2012), Institute for the Study of Labor. Updated December 2012.
Also: http://www.iza.org/de/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=6755
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Birth Order; Breastfeeding; Home Environment; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Motor and Social Development (MSD); Parental Investments; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Racial Differences; Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We examine within-family differences in key prenatal and early childhood inputs in an effort shed light on the possible early origins of birth order differences in adult labor and education outcomes. Taking advantage of the rich information on in utero and early childhood conditions in the Children of the NLSY 1979, we find that, mothers are less likely to seek prompt prenatal care, breastfeed, and provide a high quality home environment for their later-born children. This negative relationship between birth order and early inputs is reflected in children’s early motor and social development scores, with children of higher birth order scoring up to 0.3 standard deviations lower than their older siblings. We find that birth order differences in early inputs and outcomes are most prominent in white families and among children of mothers with low AFQT scores.
Bibliography Citation
Lehmann, Jee-Yeon K., Ana Nuevo-Chiquero and Marian Vidal-Fernández. "Explaining the Birth Order Effect: The Role of Prenatal and Early Childhood Investments." IZA Discussion Paper No. 6755 (July 2012), Institute for the Study of Labor. Updated December 2012.
5. Lehmann, Jee-Yeon K.
Nuevo-Chiquero, Ana
Vidal-Fernández, Marian
The Early Origins of Birth Order Differences in Children's Outcomes and Parental Behavior
Journal of Human Resources 53,1 (Winter 2018): 123-156.
Also: http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/53/1/123.abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Keyword(s): Birth Order; Breastfeeding; Cognitive Ability; Cognitive Development; Parent-Child Interaction; Parental Influences; Pre/post Natal Behavior

We document birth order differences in cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes and maternal behavior from birth to adolescence using data from the Children of the NLSY79. As early as age one, latter-born children score lower on cognitive assessments than their siblings, and the birth order gap in cognitive assessment increases until the time of school entry and remains statistically significant thereafter. Mothers take more risks during pregnancy and are less likely to breastfeed and to provide cognitive stimulation for latter-born children. Variations in parental behavior can explain most of the differences in cognitive abilities before school entry. Our findings suggest that broad shifts in parental behavior from first to latter-born children is a plausible explanation for the observed birth order differences in education and labor market outcomes.
Bibliography Citation
Lehmann, Jee-Yeon K., Ana Nuevo-Chiquero and Marian Vidal-Fernández. "The Early Origins of Birth Order Differences in Children's Outcomes and Parental Behavior." Journal of Human Resources 53,1 (Winter 2018): 123-156.
6. Posadas, Josefina
Vidal-Fernández, Marian
Grandparents' Childcare and Female Labor Force Participation
IZA Journal of Labor Policy 2 (2013): 14.
Also: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/2193-9004-2-14
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Springer
Keyword(s): Child Care; Grandparents; Labor Force Participation; Maternal Employment; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Modeling, Instrumental Variables; Modeling, OLS

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In the United States, approximately 20% of employed mothers with children under 5 use grandparents as their primary source of childcare. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), we investigate whether the availability of this source of childcare has a causal effect on mother's labor force participation. We compare Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), women's Fixed Effects (FE) and Instrumental Variables (IV) estimates. We find that OLS estimates overestimate the effect of grandparental childcare on young mothers' labor force participation and are not significantly different from IV estimates. In our preferred specification, FE, we find that the availability of grandparental childcare significantly increases mothers' labor force participation by 9 percentage points and that this effect is largely driven by minority, single or never married mothers. Our findings suggest that policies that raise retirement ages might increase older cohorts' labor participation rates at the expense of young women's through childcare availability.
Bibliography Citation
Posadas, Josefina and Marian Vidal-Fernández. "Grandparents' Childcare and Female Labor Force Participation." IZA Journal of Labor Policy 2 (2013): 14.
7. Posadas, Josefina
Vidal-Fernández, Marian
Grandparents’ Childcare and Female Labor Force Participation
IZA Discussion Paper No. 6398, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), February 2012
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Keyword(s): Child Care; Grandmothers; Grandparents; Labor Force Participation; Maternal Employment; Socioeconomic Background

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

In the U.S., grandparents look after one in five preschool children of employed women. Does this source of informal childcare increase female labor force participation and if so, up to what extent? The main challenge to answer this question is that a positive relationship between grandparents’ childcare and female labor force participation might not be causal. We use the maternal grandmother’s death as an instrument of grandparents’ childcare to measure the effect of grandparents’ childcare on maternal labor force participation (MLFP). We compare OLS and IV estimates and find that grandparents’ childcare increases MLFP by 15 percentage points on average. We argue that most of the effect is driven by families from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

A more recent version of this article appears in IZA Journal of Labor Policy 2013, 2:14 at http://www.izajolp.com/content/2/1/14.

Bibliography Citation
Posadas, Josefina and Marian Vidal-Fernández. "Grandparents’ Childcare and Female Labor Force Participation." IZA Discussion Paper No. 6398, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), February 2012.
8. Vidal-Fernández, Marian
The Effect of Minimum Academic Requirements to Participate in Sports on High School Graduation
The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 11,1 (August 2011): .
Also: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/bejeap.2011.11.issue-1/bejeap.2011.11.1.2380/bejeap.2011.11.1.2380.xml?rskey=v7VL8y&result=1&q=vidal-fernandez
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
Keyword(s): Athletics (see SPORTS); Cross-national Analysis; Data Linkage (also see Record Linkage); Extracurricular Activities/Sports; High School Completion/Graduates; High School Curriculum; Sports (also see ATHLETICS)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

During the 1970s, state interscholastic associations imposed rules requiring student athletes to pass a certain number of subjects in order to be allowed to participate in school sports. Using the NLSY together with a newly collected dataset on the stringency of the rules, I exploit variation in the rules across states to estimate their effects on high school graduation. I find that requiring students to pass one additional course is associated with a two-percentage-point increase in the likelihood of graduation. This result survives a number of robustness checks, including finding no effect for female students who at the time had limited access to interscholastic competitions.
Bibliography Citation
Vidal-Fernández, Marian. "The Effect of Minimum Academic Requirements to Participate in Sports on High School Graduation." The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 11,1 (August 2011): .