Environmental and Parental Factors to Childhood Development

Annotated Bibliography
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Course
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Annotated Bibliography: Child Development
Cheng, Z., Mendolia, S., Paloyo, A.R., Savage, D.A., & Tani, M. (2021). Working parents, financial insecurity, and childcare: mental health in the time of COVID-19 in the UK. Review of Economics of the Household, 19, 123-144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-020-09538-3
Cheng et al. (2021) show the impact of mental health deterioration among working parents and its association with financial insecurity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide passed policy measures to help control the spread of the disease, such as physical distancing, lockdowns, and social isolation that saw the closure of schools. Cheng et al. (2021) notice that as parents spend more time on homeschooling and childcare, increased cases of mental health issues are associated with challenges in managing competing time demands in two life domains of home and work. Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS), the researchers document the relationship between mental health deterioration and the challenges of homeschooling and childcare, particularly among women and low-income persons (p.123). The study involved 40,000 households, with 17,452 persons completing the post-COVID-19 survey in April 2020 and an additional 14,811 in May 2020 (Cheng et al., 2021). While the study includes a large sample, data from the first two months of the survey is used to make conclusions about the socioeconomic and behavioral domains of the respondents. The analysis is based on Wave 9 of the UKHLS ad the surveys conducted between April and May 2020. However, the study informs on the need to consider inequalities such as gender and socioeconomic factors when formulating policies.
Hernandez-Alava, M., & Popli, G. (2017). Children's development and parental input: Evidence from the UK millennium cohort study. Demography, 54, 485-511. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13524-017-0554-6
Hernandez-Alava and Popli (2017) have estimated a dynamic factor model of child development using the UK Millennium Cohort Study among children under seven years. Using the model to study both cognitive and noncognitive abilities, the authors have identified a significant effect of self-productivity in both cognitive and noncognitive development and evidence of dynamic dependence among children with varying abilities (Hernandez-Alava & Popli, 2017, p.485). The researchers note that various activities that parents perform at home with their children can significantly impact the development of children. Besides, the study has found substantial evidence of two different latent parental inputs or investment variables with different effects across the two developmental abilities. The study suffers some limitations regarding nonrandom attrition in the sample, which is common for studies that rely on longitudinal data. While the authors have identified the role of parental investment, its persistence has not been modeled. In their sample, persistence is high, which would reinforce the impact of policies and other external factors. However, the study has several policy implications, especially with the realization of the tole of parental investment in the development of children during their early years (Hernandez-Alava & Popli, 2017). In particular, the study offers recommendations on policies targeting children during their early stages of development to include investments in children and academic support.
Hong, X., Zhu, W., Wu, D., & Li, H. (2020). Parental satisfaction with early childhood education services in rural China: A national survey. Children and Youth Services Review, 115, 105100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105100
Hong, Zhu, Wu, and Li (2020) have examined the levels of parental satisfaction with early childhood education services in rural China. The study uses a random sample of 13,131 Chinese parents from 12 rural areas to complete the Parent Satisfaction with Education Experiences Scale (Hong, et al., 2020). Results show that Chinese parents are more satisfied with the teacher contact experience than school contact experiences. However, there are no important urban-rural differences, but there are two latent classes of parental satisfaction: poor-educated low-class families in central China and moderately-educated high-income families in eastern China. Finally, results indicate differences in parental satisfaction between Eastern, Western, and Central China. Important limitations in this study include an exclusive exploration of parents while leaving out their children in the education system. Secondly, the study fails to explore more preschools or kindergartens in private schools to reflect the reality in Early Childhood Education (ECE) in rural China. Third, the study should have used a multidimensional evaluation instead of questionnaire data, and finally, using national surveys generates representative evidence, but there is no follow-up qualitative research to understand the target phenomenon (Hong, et al., 2020). Overall, the study informs that there should be more efforts to promote equality, equity, and social justice within the early childhood education system.
Jackson, M.I., Kiernan, K., & McLanahan, S. (2017). Maternal education, changing family circumstances, and children's skill development in the United States and the UK. The Annals of the American Academy, 674, 59-84. http://doi.org/10.1177/0002716217729471
The study by Jackson, Kiernan, and McLanahan (2017) shows that maternal education significantly impacts the socioeconomic statuses of families and is strongly associated with cognitive development among children. The authors have also associated maternal education with family resources that predict the wellbeing of children, including family structure, economic insecurity, and maternal depression. Using latent class analysis and data from two representative birth cohort studies in the United States and the UK, the authors follow children from birth to 5 years to answer two questions about child development. The study uses two survey studies: The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFS) in the United States and the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) in the UK (Jackson et al., 2017). Results indicate similar trends in the United States and the UK in family life patterns during early childhood and how the patterns contribute to educational inequality. While the study examines the sensitivity of the findings to more refined measures of family economic status and family structure, in the final analysis, the authors condense these complex constructs into simpler measures that could be safely compared over time and in nations. For instance, maternal depression can be consistently measured across samples and ages, unlike some correlated parenting behaviors, which might vary in both meaning and content based on age. Besides, the study fails to examine synergies and differences among various social and family financial capital dimensions. Overall, the study fills the gap of most studies that have examined the effects of variables in isolation at given points in time (Jackson et al., 2017). Other studies have also analyzed whether findings observed in the United States can be generalized to children of the same age in other states such as the UK.
Lai, F., Liu, C., Luo, R., Zhang, L., Ma, X., Bai, Y., Sharbono, B., & Rozelle, S. (2014). The education of China's migrant children: The missing link in China's education system. International Journal of Educational Development, 37, 68-77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2013.11.006
The study by Lai, Liu, Luo, Zhang, Ma, Bai, Sharbono, and Rozelle (2014) examines the education of Chinese migrant children and particularly focuses on the factors that influence academic performance among the Chinese migrant students. Using multivariate regression, the authors examine how school quality and individual characteristics affect the performance of migrant students and establish the achievement gap between migrant students and those studying in rural public schools (Lai et al., 2014). The researchers show that while migrant students may outperform those in rural public schools during their first days upon arriving in Beijing, they start losing ground due to poor teacher quality and limited resources in their schools. Although the authors have identified the gaps in the academic performance of migrant students and those in rural public schools, observational data in the study fails to allow the researchers to show that the differences are causal n nature definitively. Besides, while the authors seek to control self-selection, several unobservable factors cannot be fully accounted for (Lai et al., 2014). This study can help establish educational policies that can improve the distribution of education resources among...