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<p>Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we estimate how having children affects parents’ participation in arts, high- and lowbrow cultural activities, and sports. Identification combines three complementary, well-established strategies: (i) an event-study design around first births; (ii) twin births as exogenous shocks to second and third births; and (iii) sex-composition preferences as an exogenous driver of third births. Following first births, average participation falls by 13–54%, with event-study dynamics showing large short-run drops and a slow, incomplete recovery within ten years. We also document pronounced gender heterogeneity: mothers experience larger immediate declines, while fathers are more affected on the extensive margin (any participation). By contrast, effects of second and third births are mixed; when present, they are modest and tend to fade as children age.</p>

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Family first: the causal effect of family size on cultural participation

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月16日

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  • Hendrik Sonnabend,
  • Matthias Westphal

摘要

Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we estimate how having children affects parents’ participation in arts, high- and lowbrow cultural activities, and sports. Identification combines three complementary, well-established strategies: (i) an event-study design around first births; (ii) twin births as exogenous shocks to second and third births; and (iii) sex-composition preferences as an exogenous driver of third births. Following first births, average participation falls by 13–54%, with event-study dynamics showing large short-run drops and a slow, incomplete recovery within ten years. We also document pronounced gender heterogeneity: mothers experience larger immediate declines, while fathers are more affected on the extensive margin (any participation). By contrast, effects of second and third births are mixed; when present, they are modest and tend to fade as children age.