Childhood behavior problems and adverse economic outcomes: a 30-year population-based study of intergenerational income mobility.

BACKGROUND: The objectives of this study were to (a) assess the associations between early behavioral problems and intergenerational income mobility (i.e., the degree to which income status is transmitted from one generation to the next), (b) verify whether these associations are moderated by child sex, and (c) explore indirect effects of early behavioral problems on income mobility via high school graduation. METHODS: Data were drawn from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children (n = 3,020; 49.17% girls). Participants were followed from age 6 to 37 years. Measures included parents' and teachers' ratings of behavioral problems at age 6 years as well as participants' (ages 30-35 years) and their parents' (when participants were aged 10-19 years) income data obtained from tax return records. Regression models were used to predict upward and downward mobility (i.e., increased or decreased income status from one generation to the next) from attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems, conduct/opposition problems, depression/anxiety problems, prosociality, and the quality of children's relationship with their caregiver. Two-way interaction effects between behavioral problems and child sex were examined and indirect effect models including high school graduation as a mediator of these associations were conducted. RESULTS: Despite their higher educational attainment, females had lower incomes and experienced lower upward (but higher downward) income mobility than males. For both females and males, higher levels of attention-deficit/hyperactivity and conduct/opposition problems were associated with decreased odds of upward mobility, whereas higher levels of attention-deficit/hyperactivity were associated with increased odds of downward mobility. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems, conduct/opposition problems as well as low prosociality were associated with lower educational attainment (no high school diploma), which in turn was associated with increased odds of downward mobility. CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight the importance of providing intensive support to children with early behavioral problems as a means of improving educational attainment and intergenerational income mobility.

Examining the impact of a change in maternity leave policy in Canada on maternal mental health care visits to the physician.

PURPOSE: Maternity leave is a critical employee benefit that allows mothers to recover from the stress of pregnancy and childbirth and bond with their new baby. We aimed to examine the association between the extension of a maternity leave policy and maternal use of mental health services and prescription drugs in a universal public healthcare system. METHODS: This study uses administrative medical records from 18,000 randomly selected women who gave birth three months before and after an extension of the maternity leave policy. More specifically, mothers who gave birth after January 1st 2001, were entitled to 50 weeks of paid maternity leave, while mothers who gave birth before that date were entitled to only 26 weeks of paid maternity leave. Medical records were analyzed over a seven-year period (i.e., from October 1998 to March 2006). We examined the number and costs of mothers' medical visits for mental health care in the five years following delivery, as well as maternal use of prescribed medication for mental health problems. RESULTS: We found that mothers with extended maternity leave had - 0.12 (95%CI=-0.21; -0.02) fewer medical visits than mothers without a more generous maternity leave and that the cost of mental health services was Can$5 less expensive per women. These differences were found specifically during the extended maternity leave period. CONCLUSIONS: The extra time away from work may help mothers to balance new family dynamics which may result in less demand on the healthcare system.

Estimating consumer preferences for different beverages using the BLP approach.

The overconsumption of sugar is a significant problem in many jurisdictions, and one possible method to remedy this problem is the taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). To be able to implement an optimal tax, it is important to know the preferences and price sensitivity of consumers. This article therefore estimates the price elasticity of demand for different beverages in Quebec, using the Berry, Levinsohn and Pakes (BLP) random parameter logistic demand model, combined with Nielsen data from 2010 to 2016 and the 2016 Canadian Census. The results suggest that the average consumer prefers high-calorie beverages containing fruits and vegetables, and the estimated price elasticities are between -4.40 (energy drinks) and -1.59 (regular soft drinks). As a result, consumers of energy drinks appear to reduce their consumption the most in the face of rising prices, whereas consumers of soft drinks will decrease their consumption the least. However, at a general level, the implementation of a tax on SSBs in Quebec should generate a significant reduction in consumption.

Understanding and attenuating pandemic-related disruptions: a plan to reduce inequalities in child development.

The Secretary General of the United Nations described the impact of COVID-19-related school closures as a "generational catastrophe." What will be the legacy of the 2020-2021 pandemic-related disruptions in 5, 10, 20 years from now, as regards education and well-being of children and youth? Addressing the disproportionate impact on those growing up in socio-economically disadvantaged areas or on those with pre-existing learning challenges is key to sustainable recovery. This commentary builds on the four literature reviews presented in this Special Section on a Pandemic Recovery Plan for Children and proposes strategies to understand and attenuate the impact of pandemic-related lockdown measures. Importantly, we need a monitoring strategy to assess indicators of child development in three areas of functioning: education and learning, health, and well-being (or mental health). Surveillance needs to begin in the critical prenatal period (with prenatal care to expectant parents), and extend to the end of formal high school/college education. Based on child development indicators, a stepped strategy for intervention, ranging from all-encompassing population-based health and education promotion initiatives to targeted prevention programs and targeted remedial/therapeutic interventions, can be offered. As proposed in the UN plan for recovery, ensuring healthy present and future generations involves a concerted and intensive intersectoral effort from the education, health, psychosocial services, and scientific communities.

RéSUMé: Selon les Nations Unis, les perturbations scolaires associées à la pandémie de COVID-19 pourraient mener à une « catastrophe générationnelle ¼ en gaspillant un potentiel humain incalculable, sapant des décennies de progrès et exacerbant des inégalités bien ancrées. Le déploiement du vaccin chez les moins de 12 ans n'a pas débuté avant la rentrée scolaire 2021, ce qui laisse présager de nombreuses perturbations pour cette 3e année scolaire pandémique. Quel sera le legs des perturbations entrainées par la pandémie de COVID-19 en matière d'éducation et de bien-être dans 5, 10, ou 20 ans? Une relance durable dépendra des mesures prises pour prévenir l'impact négatif disproportionné sur les enfants/adolescents de milieux socioéconomiques défavorisés et ceux qui ont des défis d'apprentissage préexistants. Ce commentaire propose des stratégies pour comprendre et atténuer l'impact des perturbations pandémiques en se fondant sur les quatre articles de la présente « Section spéciale sur un plan de relance pour les enfants suite à la pandémie ¼. Trois lignes d'action prioritaires émergent à la lumière des connaissances scientifiques actuelles. Premièrement, le contexte pandémique met en évidence la nécessité d'accéder à données intersectorielles (éducation, santé, services psychosociaux) permettant de distinguer les conséquences à court et à long terme. Deuxièmement, il faut être prêt à déployer une stratégie interventionnelle par étape, avec des interventions universelles en promotion, jusqu'aux interventions plus ciblées et intensives. Troisièmement, il faudra mettre en place des programmes particuliers pour les enfants/adolescents de milieux défavorisés et pour ceux qui présentent des facteurs de risque personnels (défis de santé mentale, retards d'apprentissage). À titre d'exemple, le tutorat scolaire devrait être facilement accessible dans tous les milieux défavorisés. Tel que proposé dans le plan de relance de l'ONU, un effort concerté, intensif et intersectoriel de la part des sciences de l'éducation, de la santé, et des services psychosociaux sera nécessaire pour assurer la santé et l'éducation des générations présentes et futures.

What is the effect of school closures on learning in Canada? A hypothesis informed by international data.

Canadian lockdown response to the COVID-19 pandemic has included province-wide school shutdowns and frequent individual school closures to contain outbreaks. A number of scientists and political figures have shared their concerns about the medium- and long-term effects of school closures/shutdowns on student academic achievement, learning loss, and learning gaps. Unfortunately, there are no pan-Canadian studies to date to help define the scope of the problem. In this commentary, we report the results of a number of longitudinal research studies conducted in the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and the United States. Using these studies as a basis for comparison, we extrapolated a "Canadian" hypothesis on the unintended academic consequences of school closures, keeping in mind the unique nature of each province. We continue with recommendations on the types of research required to validate this hypothesis, and conclude with implications on public health and education should learning loss and gaps prove true.

RéSUMé: La pandémie de Covid-19 a entrainé la fermeture temporaire de plusieurs écoles au Canada ainsi que des interruptions scolaires fréquentes en raison d'éclosions. Plusieurs scientifiques et politiciens ont partagé leurs inquiétudes sur la place publique quant aux effets à moyen et long terme de cette situation sur la réussite des élèves. Malheureusement, aucune étude pancanadienne ne permet à ce jour de bien circonscrire l'ampleur du problème. Dans ce commentaire, nous rapportons le fruit des quelques recherches longitudinales réalisées ailleurs dans le monde sur cette question (c.-à-d. Pays Bas, Belgique, Angleterre et États-Unis). En utilisant ces recherches comme base de comparaison, nous nous avançons sur ce que serait l'hypothèse « canadienne¼ tout en gardant en tête les réalités très singulières de chaque province. Nous concluons le commentaire par des recommandations sur le type de recherche à mettre en œuvre pour valider cette hypothèse et sur les implications pour l'éducation et la santé publique si elle s'avérait confirmée.

The distribution of COVID-19-related risks.

We document two COVID-19-related risks, viral risk and employment risk, and their distributions across the Canadian population. The measurement of viral risk is based on the VSE COVID-19 Risk/Reward Assessment Tool, created to assist policy-makers in determining the impacts of pandemic-related economic shutdowns and re-openings. Women are more concentrated in high-viral-transmission-risk occupations, which is the source of their greater employment loss over the first part of the pandemic. They were also less likely to maintain contact with their former employers, reducing employment recovery rates. Low-educated workers face the same viral risk rates as high-educated workers but much higher employment losses. This is largely due to their lower likelihood of switching to working from home. For both women and the low-educated, existing inequities in their occupational distributions and living situations have resulted in them bearing a disproportionate amount of the risk emerging from the pandemic. Assortative matching in couples has tended to exacerbate risk inequities.

Dans cet article, nous documentons deux risques associés à la COVID­19, soit le risque de contracter le virus étant donné l'emploi occupé et le risque de perdre son emploi dans le contexte de la pandémie. La répartition de ces risques dans la population canadienne est aussi documentée. La mesure du risque viral est basée sur l'outil de visualisation des risques par profession et industrie liés à la COVID­19 de la VSE, créée pour aider les décideurs à déterminer les impacts des fermetures et réouvertures des différents secteurs de l'économie durant la pandémie. On note que les femmes sont plus présentes dans les professions à haut risque viral, ce qui explique en partie leur plus grande perte d'emploi durant la première partie de la pandémie. Durant la pandémie, elles étaient également moins susceptibles de demeurer en contact avec leurs anciens employeurs, ce qui a affecté négativement leur taux de retour au travail. Le risque viral était similaire pour les travailleurs peu éduqués et les travailleurs hautement qualifiés, mais les pertes d'emplois ont été beaucoup plus importantes pour les travailleurs peu éduqués. Cette différence peut être attribuable à leur plus faible capacité à effectuer leur travail à domicile étant donné la nature de leur emploi. Tant pour les femmes que pour les personnes peu éduquées, les inégalités existantes dans leurs conditions de vie et leur répartition professionnelle les ont conduites à subir une part plus élevée du risque lié à la pandémie. Enfin, l'appariement assortatif des couples selon les professions a eu tendance à exacerber les inégalités face aux risques.

Primary school reopenings and parental work.

In this paper, we exploit the geographical pattern of primary school reopenings during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada to estimate the impact of school reopenings on parental employment and work hours. We use a triple-difference approach, in which we first compare parents of primary-school children in regions where schools reopened to similar parents in regions where schools remained closed and add parents of older, secondary-school children as an additional control group. We estimate the impact of school reopenings separately for mothers and fathers, and for single parents and parents living in dual-parent households. We find a positive impact of school reopenings on employment and on actual hours worked. The effects tend to be stronger for single mothers, but are also present for mothers and fathers in dual-parent households in the spring of 2020. Overall, single mothers experienced an 18 percentage point increase in their employment at work rate following school reopenings. We also split our sample according to whether the job can be done from home, and find stronger impacts for those whose jobs cannot easily be done from home.

La réouverture des écoles primaires et le travail des parents. Dans cet article, nous exploitons la dispersion géographique des réouvertures d'écoles primaires durant la pandémie de COVID­19 au Canada afin d'estimer l'impact des réouvertures d'écoles sur l'emploi des parents et leurs heures de travail. Nous utilisons une approche de triple différence, dans laquelle nous comparons tout d'abord les parents d'enfants à l'école primaire dans les régions où les écoles ont réouvert aux parents similaires dans les régions où les écoles sont restées fermées, puis nous ajoutons les parents d'enfants plus âgés, à l'école secondaire, comme groupe de contrôle additionnel. Nous estimons l'impact des réouvertures d'écoles séparément pour les mères et les pères, et pour les parents monoparentaux et ceux dans les ménages à deux parents. Nous trouvons un impact positif des réouvertures d'écoles sur l'emploi et les heures effectivement travaillées. Les effets tendent à être plus marqués pour les mères monoparentales, mais sont aussi présents pour les mères et les pères dans les ménages à deux parents au printemps 2020. En tout, les mères monoparentales ont connu une hausse de 18 points de pourcentage de leur taux d'emploi (au travail) suite aux réouvertures d'écoles. Nous séparons aussi notre échantillon selon que l'emploi puisse être fait de la maison et trouvons des impacts plus forts pour ceux dont l'emploi ne peut facilement être fait de la maison.

Childcare Attendance and Academic Achievement at Age 16 Years.

Importance: Low school preparedness is linked to high school dropout, poor employment, and negative outcomes. Childcare attendance may increase school readiness and foster academic achievement. Objective: To explore whether childcare attendance was associated with academic achievement at the end of compulsory schooling (age 16 years in the UK), whether maternal education level was a moderator, and the benefit-cost ratio of childcare regarding productivity returns of academic achievement. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cohort study, data were included from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) born from April 1991 to December 1992 and the UK National Pupil Database for examination results. Data on academic achievement at age 16 years were available for 11 843 participants. Data were collected from June 2006 to June 2008, and data were analyzed from September 2019 to May 2020. Exposures: On average, 3.7%, 5.9%, and 90.4% attended childcare full time, part time, and less than 10 hours per week, respectively. Maternal education was assessed by questionnaire during pregnancy. Analyses included weights for population representativeness and propensity score weights to account for parental selection into childcare. Main Outcomes and Measures: Academic achievement was defined as no certificate, Level 1 General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE; limited training), or Level 2 GCSE (qualification for academic post-16 education; high school diploma equivalent). Lifetime productivity return estimates were withdrawn from previous economic analysis based on pupil's qualifications. Results: Of 14 541 children in the ALSPAC study, 8936 children had complete data on childcare attendance, academic achievement, and maternal education levels. Of these, 4499 (50.3%) were male. Attending childcare was associated with higher probabilities of obtaining a Level 1 or 2 GCSE qualification (Level 1: relative risk, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.16-1.73; Level 2: relative risk, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.30-2.01); however, this association was moderated by the child's maternal education level. When children of mothers with low education attended childcare, their probability of no GCSE qualification went from 28.9% (95% CI, 26.8-31.0) to 20.3% (95% CI, 18.0-22.8), whereas children of mothers with higher education had a probability of no qualification of less than 10% regardless of childcare attendance. The benefit-cost ratio for each £1 (US $1.40) invested in full-time childcare attendance for children of mothers with low education was £1.71 (95% CI, 1.03-2.45; US $2.39; 95% CI, 1.44-3.43) for those who reached a Level 2 GCSE qualification. Conclusions and Relevance: Promoting universal childcare with facilitated access for children of lower socioeconomic backgrounds deserves to be considered as a way to reduce the intergenerational transmission of low academic achievement.

Pandemic School Closures May Increase Inequality in Test Scores.

Schools have been closed across the country and will remain closed until September in most provinces. The decision to reopen should take into account current inequalities in cognitive skills across the country and the impact of school interruptions on knowledge accumulation. In this article, we use information from a companion article to estimate the socioeconomic achievement gaps of 15-year-olds across Canada and assess the impact of the pandemic on inequalities in education. Using estimates from the literature on the impact of school closures, we find that the socioeconomic skills gap measured using Programme for International Student Assessment data could increase by more than 30 percent.

Les écoles ont été fermées partout au pays et le demeureront jusqu'en septembre dans la plupart des provinces. Dans la décision de rouvrir les écoles, il faudra tenir compte des inégalités actuelles au chapitre des habiletés cognitives des élèves dans l'ensemble du Canada et de l'incidence de l'interruption du fonctionnement des écoles sur le cumul des connaissances. Les auteurs utilisent l'information provenant d'un document complémentaire pour estimer l'écart socioéconomique dans la réussite des jeunes de 15 ans sur l'ensemble du territoire canadien et évaluent les répercussions de la pandémie sur les inégalités dans l'éducation. À l'aide d'estimations tirées de la documentation sur les conséquences de la fermeture des écoles, les auteurs prévoient que les écarts socioéconomiques de compétences mesurés selon les données du PISA pourraient croître de plus de 30 pour cent.