How Parenting Courses Affect Families' Time-Use? Evidence from an RCT Experiment in Italy

19 Pages Posted: 5 Jul 2022

See all articles by Daniela Del Boca

Daniela Del Boca

University of Turin

Chiara Pronzato

University of Essex - Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)

Lucia Schiavon

University of Turin

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of parenting courses on families' time use with their children in urban areas in Italy. Courses aimed at raising parental awareness of the importance of educational activities were offered in four cities (Naples, Reggio Emilia, Teramo and Palermo) within the framework of the social program "FA.C.E. Farsi Comunità Educanti". In order to conduct the impact evaluation, we designed a randomized controlled trial involving random assignment of the families (mostly mothers). At the end of the intervention, we administered an assessment questionnaire both to the treatment group, which took the course, and to the control group, which did not. Comparing the outcomes, we find that attending the course increased families' awareness of the importance of educational activities for children, reading often to the children and spending more time with them.

Keywords: parenting, use of time, educational activities, randomized controlled trial

JEL Classification: J13, D1, I26

Suggested Citation

Boca, Daniela Del and Pronzato, Chiara and Schiavon, Lucia, How Parenting Courses Affect Families' Time-Use? Evidence from an RCT Experiment in Italy. IZA Discussion Paper No. 15405, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4154048 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4154048

Daniela Del Boca (Contact Author)

University of Turin ( email )

Via Po 53
Torino, Turin - Piedmont 10100
Italy

Chiara Pronzato

University of Essex - Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) ( email )

Wivenhoe Park
Colchester CO4 3SQ
United Kingdom

Lucia Schiavon

University of Turin

Torino
Italy

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