Caution! Men not at work: Gender-specific labor market conditions and child maltreatment

Jason M. Lindo, Jessamyn Schaller, Benjamin Hansen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

70 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of labor market conditions—measured through unemployment, mass layoffs and predicted employment—on child maltreatment using county-level data from California. Using these indicators, we separately estimate the effects of overall and gender-specific economic shocks. We find only modest evidence of a link between overall economic conditions and child maltreatment. However, analysis by gender reveals robust evidence that maltreatment decreases with indicators for male employment and increases with indicators for female employment. These opposite-signed effects are consistent with a theoretical framework that builds on household-time-use models and is supported by an analysis of time-use data, though we discuss other mechanisms that may also play important roles.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)77-98
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of Public Economics
Volume163
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2018

Keywords

  • Abuse
  • Child maltreatment
  • Job loss
  • Neglect
  • Time use
  • Unemployment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Finance
  • Economics and Econometrics

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