Parenting style and the development of noncognitive ability in children

Abstract

We investigate the impact of parenting style on children's noncognitive ability development using data from China. Based on an extensive set of questions of caregiver-child interaction, we distinguish parenting style (i.e., respectful and disciplinary) from traditional material and time parental investment. We find that respectful parenting style significantly influences the formation of children's noncognitive ability. Our results suggest that with detailed measures of parenting style and parental investment, children taken care by parents and grandparents do not exhibit significant differences in noncognitive ability. A further investigation of unobserved heterogeneity based on different techniques reveals a causal and long-lasting relationship from parenting style to noncognitive ability.