Research Summaries

Back Parenthood and Health: Measuring the Effects of Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, and Child Care

Fiscal Year 2020
Division Graduate School of Business & Public Policy
Department Graduate School of Business & Public Policy
Investigator(s) Heissel, Jennifer A.
Sponsor The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Other)
Summary The birth of a child dramatically changes parents' lives. Lack of sleep, new social roles, emotional stressors, and neurobiological changes for both mothers and fathers all impact parents' health and well-being. If health suffers after a baby arrives in the home, at what point, if ever, does health recover? Do parental support policies, such as maternity leave, paternity leave, or subsidized childcare, improve outcomes? These questions are difficult to answer due to limits in longitudinal data collection. It is hard to track large numbers of parents over time consistently, particularly in conjunction with external variation in family support policies. To examine how these policies affect health, we need detailed, consistent, longitudinal health data matched to births that happen in different policy periods. U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) administrative records provide a novel opportunity to explore the impacts of these policies. The DoD offers service members paid caregiver leave and subsidized childcare, though the quantity and availability of both have varied over time. The DoD is the world's largest employer, with rich data covering a significant portion of the U.S. population. The DoD presents a unique opportunity to study the effects of several policies on repeated, consistent measures of health including inpatient and outpatient medical care received, substance use, and mental/physical health. We have three study aims: Aim 1: Determine whether primary caregiver leave and childcare access affect mother health Aim 2: Determine whether secondary caregiver leave and childcare access affect father health Aim 3: Determine whether family caregiver leave has spillover benefits for spouses We hypothesize that (1) parenthood is initially detrimental to both mothers' and fathers' health, (2) parents eventually recover, and (3) more generous parental support policies improve outcomes. The results of this study translate to policies in the civilian workplace. This research will uncover whether particular policies support parents' health ' and how patterns differ among subgroups. Childcare and leave policies are both frequently discussed in public discourse, but data limitations hold back analyses of their effects. The U.S. can only build a Culture of Health around parenthood if we know what programs keep parents healthy. Given the variation in maternity leave, paternity leave, and childcare, the military offers a unique opportunity to study how specific policies can support new parents. We review the proposed research below and highlight answers to three questions raised from our letter of intent.
Keywords Family Health
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal