Study Heisig & Zierow (2019): study DE 2000
- Public
- 18-36 aged in Germany 2000-2016, born in former East Germany before and after extension of maternity leave in 1986
- Survey name
- DE-SOEP
- Sample
- Respondents
- N = 1112
- Non Response
- Assessment
- Interview: face-to-face
Correlate
- Authors's Label
- Baby year reform
- Our Classification
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-
- Remarks
- Respondents born in former communist East Germany, where paid maternity leave was 6 months since 1976 for parents with at least two children, which was extended in 1986 to 12 months for all children. Allmost all mothers used this facility and stayed home with their babies in the first year, after which alle children attended standard free day-care. Older sibblings born before the reform serve as a control in this natural experiment
- Distribution
- N= 1: 417, 0: 695
- Related specification variables
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- Operationalization
- Mothers paid maternity leave
1: 12 months (later born post 1986 reform)
0: 6 months (older siblings born pre 1986 reform)
Observed Relation with Happiness
12 months (post reform) M = 7,28 SD = 1,57
6 months (pre reform) M = 7,07 SD = 1,72
- difference +0,21 -0,15
Mediators seem to be:
- personality development (among boys and low SES)
- better health (among high SES)
- birth cohort fixed effects
- parents education
- grew up in urban area (vs not)
- current background
- age
- gender
- survey year
b unaffected by additional controls for:
- current living in West Germany
- number of sibblings
- born in 1986 (to exclude possible postphonement of birth)
- born in 1988 (to exclude possible effects of German reunification)
- parents accademics