Children's time allocation and the socioeconomic gap in human capital
Black, Nicole ; Jayawardana, Danusha and Heckley, Gawain LU
(2024)
In European Economic Review
168.
- Abstract
Children's time investments in various activities may be important for reducing socioeconomic status (SES) gaps in educational and mental health outcomes. Using detailed time use diaries of Australian children aged 4–14, we observe that children from low SES backgrounds spend more time on digital media and less time on out-of-school enrichment activities, organised or for leisure. We explain the SES gap by employing a human capital development panel model and find that this difference contributes about 3% to the observed SES gap in numeracy skills. The results are supported by exogeneity tests and numerous robustness checks. The contribution is larger for males, older age groups, and if the cumulative effect on learning is considered.... (More)
Children's time investments in various activities may be important for reducing socioeconomic status (SES) gaps in educational and mental health outcomes. Using detailed time use diaries of Australian children aged 4–14, we observe that children from low SES backgrounds spend more time on digital media and less time on out-of-school enrichment activities, organised or for leisure. We explain the SES gap by employing a human capital development panel model and find that this difference contributes about 3% to the observed SES gap in numeracy skills. The results are supported by exogeneity tests and numerous robustness checks. The contribution is larger for males, older age groups, and if the cumulative effect on learning is considered. No clear results are found for literacy skills and mental health outcomes. The findings imply that interventions promoting a shift away from digital media towards out-of-school enrichment activities could help reduce the SES gap in human capital.
(Less)
- author
- Black, Nicole
; Jayawardana, Danusha
and Heckley, Gawain
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-09
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Cognitive skills, Human capital, Mental health, Socioeconomic gap, Time use
- in
- European Economic Review
- volume
- 168
- article number
- 104821
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85200165778
- ISSN
- 0014-2921
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104821
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)
- id
- aa032f1e-30f1-4bb8-bb62-9f6cf6c4439f
- date added to LUP
- 2024-08-12 09:40:37
- date last changed
- 2024-08-13 16:04:44
@article{aa032f1e-30f1-4bb8-bb62-9f6cf6c4439f,
abstract = {{<p>Children's time investments in various activities may be important for reducing socioeconomic status (SES) gaps in educational and mental health outcomes. Using detailed time use diaries of Australian children aged 4–14, we observe that children from low SES backgrounds spend more time on digital media and less time on out-of-school enrichment activities, organised or for leisure. We explain the SES gap by employing a human capital development panel model and find that this difference contributes about 3% to the observed SES gap in numeracy skills. The results are supported by exogeneity tests and numerous robustness checks. The contribution is larger for males, older age groups, and if the cumulative effect on learning is considered. No clear results are found for literacy skills and mental health outcomes. The findings imply that interventions promoting a shift away from digital media towards out-of-school enrichment activities could help reduce the SES gap in human capital.</p>}},
author = {{Black, Nicole and Jayawardana, Danusha and Heckley, Gawain}},
issn = {{0014-2921}},
keywords = {{Cognitive skills; Human capital; Mental health; Socioeconomic gap; Time use}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{European Economic Review}},
title = {{Children's time allocation and the socioeconomic gap in human capital}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104821}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104821}},
volume = {{168}},
year = {{2024}},
}