Higher birth order positions are often associated with poorer outcomes, possibly due to fewer resources received within the household. Using a sample of PSID-CDS children, we investigate whether the birth order effects in their outcomes are due to unequal allocation of the particular resource represented by maternal quality time. OLS regressions show that the negative birth order effects on various test scores are only slightly diminished when maternal time is included among the regressors. This result is confirmed when we account for unobserved heterogeneity at the household level, exploiting the presence of siblings in the data. Our evidence therefore suggests that birth order effects are not due to differences in maternal quality time received.
Adolescents with higher parental supervision are associated with lower participation in health risk behaviors. Using weekly hour measurements of supervision derived from time diaries, I confirm this general negative relationship with a sample of 10 to 25 years old from the PSID-CDS and PSID-TA. Parental supervision from fathers and mothers are also looked at separately and are entered into the model in lagged forms to avoid endoegeneity bias. Results from household and individual fixed effects underline the relative importance of fathers in mitigating cigarette smoking in the past month, regularly alcohol drinking in the past year, and marijuana smoking in the past month. The research highlights the need to account for unobserved heterogeneity and supports the idea of looking at the different roles each parent play in affecting child outcomes.
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