The Impact of Parental Cancer on Early Childhood Development: Evidence from Australian Administrative Data

Maryam Naghsh Nejad, University of Technology Sydney
Peyman Firouzi Naem, UTS

The effect of a health shock in the family on young children is a critical area of research, given the importance of early childhood development in human capital formation. This study investigates the impact of parental cancer on the developmental outcomes of children around the age of five, a crucial period for cognitive, social, and emotional development. Using the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data integrated through the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA), we analyse the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) from 2015, and 2018, to measure the skills developed by children around five years old. By leveraging a difference-in-difference later treated approach, we compare the developmental outcomes of children in families affected by cancer before the AEDC assessments with those with the same health shock in the later period. This method allows us to address selection bias and endogeneity concerns. Our findings contribute to the understanding of how early life shocks, such as a parent's cancer diagnosis, influence the developmental trajectory of young children. This research has significant implications for designing interventions aimed at supporting families and mitigating the adverse effects of health shocks on children's development.

Keywords: Human Capital, Education, and Work, Econometrics

See paper.