An investigation of parental leave policy and its association with parent wellbeing and child developmental outcomes

Principal investigator

Gabrielle Garon-Carrier

Researchers

Caroline Fitzpatrick, José Ignacio Nazif-Munoz, Arya Ansari, Rachel Margolis

Project status:

Ongoing

Years:

April 2023 - April 2027

Abstract

Paid parental leave policy is central in promoting economic, educational and gender-based equality. This policy is designed to benefit family wellbeing by giving parents legal job protection and providing financial support when they take leave from work. Despite being widely available in the Québec province, where the policy has been in place for almost 20 years, the use of paid parental leave is not universal. Disadvantaged families are less likely to be eligible for parental leave program, often because they are unemployed or do not work enough hours to qualify. As such, this policy may exacerbate inequity in newborns' early life environments and experiences in the home. Ultimately, this can alter child cognitive and social/emotional development and have a lasting impact on life chances. The overarching goal of this project is to examine how parental leave contributes to both parents' wellbeing and to child development. Specifically, the proposed research project is divided into two studies meeting specific objectives while contributing to the overarching goal. The first study uses administrative data source to investigate if the reserved paternity leave policy introduced in the province of Quebec in 2006 impacts the parents' psychological wellbeing. The second study uses data from a large longitudinal population-based study and examines how variation in profiles of parental leave users is related to parent's wellbeing and child development and how social conditions among family moderate this association. The anticipated results is to identify key components of parental leave and family factors that best improve parent's wellbeing and child development, with the aims of promoting equity among families with young children and informing policy decision-making with regards to parental leave.

Funding Organization:

Conseil de Recherches en Sciences Humaines du Canada (CRSH) - Conseil de Recherches en Sciences Humaines du Canada (CRSH) - Programme Savoir