abstract: 'A complete account of the US child care subsidy system requires an

  understanding of its implications for both parental and child

  well-being. Although the effects of child care subsidies on maternal

  employment and child development have been recently studied, many other

  dimensions of family well-being have received little attention. This

  paper attempts to fill this gap by examining the impact of child care

  subsidy receipt on maternal health and the quality of child-parent

  interactions. The empirical analyses use data from three nationally

  representative surveys, providing access to numerous measures of family

  well-being. In addition, we attempt to handle the possibility of

  non-random selection into subsidy receipt by using several

  identification strategies both within and across the surveys. Our

  results consistently indicate that child care subsidies are associated

  with worse maternal health and poorer interactions between parents and

  their children. In particular, subsidized mothers report lower levels of

  overall health and are more likely to show symptoms consistent with

  anxiety, depression, and parenting stress. Such mothers also reveal more

  psychological and physical aggression toward their children and are more

  likely to utilize spanking as a disciplinary tool. Together, these

  findings suggest that work-based public policies aimed at economically

  disadvantaged mothers may ultimately undermine family well-being.

  Copyright (C) 2013 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.'
affiliation: 'Herbst, CM (Corresponding Author), Arizona State Univ, Sch Publ Affairs,
  411 N Cent Ave,Suite 480, Phoenix, AZ 85004 USA.

  Herbst, Chris M., Arizona State Univ, Sch Publ Affairs, Phoenix, AZ 85004 USA.

  Herbst, Chris M., IZA, Phoenix, AZ USA.

  Tekin, Erdal, Georgia State Univ, IZA, Andrew Young Sch Policy Studies, Dept Econ,
  Atlanta, GA 30303 USA.

  Tekin, Erdal, NBER, Atlanta, GA USA.'
author: Herbst, Chris M. and Tekin, Erdal
author-email: chris.herbst@asu.edu
author_list:
- family: Herbst
  given: Chris M.
- family: Tekin
  given: Erdal
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1002/hec.2964
eissn: 1099-1050
files: []
issn: 1057-9230
journal: HEALTH ECONOMICS
keywords: 'child care subsidies; maternal health; maternal employment; family

  well-being; subjective well-being'
keywords-plus: 'SINGLE MOTHERS; WELFARE-REFORM; FRAGILE FAMILIES; LOW-INCOME;

  EMPLOYMENT; WORK; RECEIPT; IMPACT; WAGES; LIFE'
language: English
month: AUG
number: '8'
number-of-cited-references: '70'
pages: 894-916
papis_id: a1490a61d58cd4233e7aecaf50412456
ref: Herbst2014childcare
times-cited: '25'
title: 'CHILD CARE SUBSIDIES, MATERNAL HEALTH, AND CHILD-PARENT INTERACTIONS: EVIDENCE
  FROM THREE NATIONALLY REPRESENTATIVE DATASETS'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000339066100002
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '33'
volume: '23'
web-of-science-categories: Economics; Health Care Sciences \& Services; Health Policy
  \& Services
year: '2014'