The effect of preschool participation on intellectual and behavioral disorder diagnoses: Evidence from surveys on children’s health

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of preschool participation on the probability of ever being diagnosed with certain intellectual and behavioral disorders in childhood. To study this relationship, I use two-sample two-stage least squares where I instrument for preschool participation using an indicator for the availability of universal preschool. Using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health and the Current Population Survey October Supplement, I find suggestive evidence that high-quality preschool participation disproportionately benefits children from low-education households. That is, for children from low-education households, I observe that preschool participation reduces the probability of ever having been diagnosed with behavioral or conduct problems, and requiring the use of special therapy. For children from high-education households, however, I observe that preschool participation increases the probability of ever having been diagnosed with behavioral or conduct problems, and requiring the use of special therapy.