Parenting Behavior and Outcomes for Children

This chapter provides a narrative review of the economic literature analyzing the relationship between parenting and child development. It starts looking at transmission of parental education, and cognitive and non-cognitive skills, focusing on the role of parental time and parenting styles. The second part of the chapter analyzes a set of parental circumstances and behaviors that may interfere with children’s human capital development. Specifically, the chapter reviews negative parental circumstances, such as health shocks, job loss, divorce, or migration of a parent, but also problematic behaviors, such as problem drinking, smoking, use of drugs, and criminal behavior.