Working Paper: NBER ID: w31338
Authors: Lelys I. Dinarte Diaz; Saravana Ravindran; Manisha Shah; Shawn M. Powers; Helen Baker-Henningham
Abstract: Approximately 75% of children aged 2 to 4 worldwide are regularly subjected to violent discipline across the globe. We study the impact of a virtually-delivered intervention on positive parenting practices in Jamaica. We find the intervention improves caregiver knowledge (0.52 SD) and attitudes around violence (0.2 SD) and leads to meaningful changes in caregiver disciplining behaviors, with a 0.12 SD reduction in violence against children. Treatment children also experience fewer emotional problems (0.17 SD). When we return nine months later, we also find reductions in caregiver depression (0.12 SD), anxiety (0.16 SD), and parental stress (0.16 SD) for treatment caregivers. The virtual delivery has important scalable policy implications which could help decrease violence against children across the globe.
Keywords: parenting; violence against children; intervention; caregiver support
JEL Codes: I25; J12; J13; J16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Improved caregiver knowledge about positive parenting practices (J13) | Caregiver attitudes towards violence against children (VAC) (J13) |
| Increased self-efficacy (I24) | Caregiver attitudes towards violence against children (VAC) (J13) |
| Enhanced support networks (D85) | Caregiver attitudes towards violence against children (VAC) (J13) |
| Intervention (D74) | Caregiver attitudes towards violence against children (VAC) (J13) |
| Intervention (D74) | Physical VAC subindex (C43) |
| Intervention (D74) | Psychological VAC subindex (D91) |
| Intervention (D74) | Caregiver violence against the target child (VATC) (J13) |
| Intervention (D74) | Caregiver depression (I11) |
| Intervention (D74) | Caregiver anxiety (I11) |
| Intervention (D74) | Parental stress (J12) |
| Intervention (D74) | Child emotional problems (J13) |