Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/202762 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12416
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The time children spend with their parents affects their development. Parenting programs can help parents use that time more effectively. Text-messaged-based parenting curricula have proven an effective means of supporting positive parenting practices by providing easy and fun activities that reduce informational and behavioral barriers. These programs may be more effective if delivered during times when parents are particularly in need of support, such as after work, or, alternatively when parents have more time to interact with their child, such as on a day off of work. This study compares the effects of an early childhood text-messaging program sent during the weekend to the same program sent on weekdays. We find that sending the text messages on the weekend is, on average, more beneficial to children's literacy and math development. This effect is particularly strong for initially lower achieving children, while the weekday texts show some benefits for higher achieving children on higher order skills. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the parents of lower achieving students, on average, face such high barriers during weekdays that supports are not enough to overcome these barriers, while for parents of higher achieving students, weekday texts are more effective because weekdays are more challenging, but not so difficult as to be untenable for positive parenting. In sum, the findings suggest that parenting support works best when parents have time, attention, and need.
Subjects: 
text messaging
parental engagement
literacy and reading skills
math skills
and parent-child activities
JEL: 
I21
I24
J18
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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