Does maternity leave affect child health? Evidence from Parental Leave in Australia Survey
Paper
Paper/Presentation Title | Does maternity leave affect child health? Evidence from Parental Leave in Australia Survey |
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Presentation Type | Paper |
Authors | Khanam, Rasheda (Author), Nghiem, Hong Son (Author) and Connelly, Luke (Author) |
Year | 2012 |
Conference/Event | 2012 European Conference on Health Economics |
Event Details | 2012 European Conference on Health Economics Event Date 18 to end of 21 Jul 2012 Event Location Zurich, Switzerland |
Abstract | One of the arguments that is advanced in support of paid maternity leave (PML) policies is that the mother's time away from work, around childbirth, is expected to improve child health and development. However evidence on these links is scarce and, until recently, little was known about the link, if any, between child health and maternity leave. Moreover, the limited literature that does exist tends to use aggregate data (i.e., an 'ecological design') to test the hypotheses that maternity leave affects maternal and child health. Evidence from micro-level data is rare because of the unavailability of such data on household level. We employ such data from the Parental Leave in Australia Survey (PLAS), which is a nested survey of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), to examine the impacts of maternity leave on child health. Using the PLAS and the first three waves of the LSAC we find that PML creates significant effects on child's general health status and on other measures such as the incidence of asthma. In addition, we find strong evidence that children of those taking PML are more likely to be breastfed. However, children of those who take PML have no significantly different probability of completely up-to-date with immunization, being diagnosed with bronchiolitis, having a medical condition or getting an injury. |
Keywords | child health; parental leave; maternity leave; health policy |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 380108. Health economics |
Public Notes | Unpublished paper. Access restricted at request of first author. |
Byline Affiliations | School of Accounting, Economics and Finance |
University of Queensland | |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q1v3v/does-maternity-leave-affect-child-health-evidence-from-parental-leave-in-australia-survey
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