Socioeconomic
gaps in child development open up early, with associated disparities in
parental investments in children. Understanding the drivers of these
disparities is key to designing effective policies. We first show that
parental beliefs about the impact of early parental investments differ across
socioeconomic status (SES), with parents of higher SES being more likely to
believe that parental investments impact child development. We then use two
randomized controlled trials to explore the mutability of such beliefs and
their link to parental investments and child development, our three primary
outcomes. In the first trial (NCT02812017 on clinicaltrials.gov), parents in
the treatment group were asked to watch a short educational video during four
well-child visits with their pediatrician while in the second trial
(NCT03076268), parents in the treatment group received twelve home visits
with feedback based on their daily interactions with their child. In both
cases, we find that parental beliefs about child development are malleable.
The first program changes parental beliefs but fails to lastingly increase
parental investments and child outcomes. By contrast, in the more intensive
program, all pre-specified endpoints are improved: the augmented beliefs are
associated with enriched parent-child interactions and higher vocabulary,
math, and social-emotional skills for the children.
