Empirical Studies on Early Childhood Education in Germany

This dissertation considers different aspects of early childhood education in Germany. It aims at providing an empirical contribution to four issues in early childhood education: the development of cognitive and noncognitive skills (chapter 1-3), institutional child care (chapter 4), the intergenerational transmission of a child's health (chapter 5), and the long-term consequences of early noncognitive skills (chapter 6). This is done by using two data sets: First, we use the mother and child data from the German Socio-economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 2003-2008. The mother and child questionnaire, firstly implemented in 2003, contains detailed information on a child's cognitive and noncognitive skills and health, starting from the time of birth. This information on a child's human capital was assessed by the mothers. Second, we exploit a prospective psychological longitudinal panel study on child development from birth until adulthood, the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk (MARS). These data allow us to use more reliable information on a child's cognitive and noncognitive skills from the age of three months on. However, this study is not representative because children at risk are oversampled. Altogether, the different studies suggest that parental investment (economic resources or non-economic resources) in children explain, at least to some extent, the development of cognitive and noncognitive skills as well as the child's health status. Scope for further research is pointed out, particularly related to long-term consequences of cognitive and noncognitive skills acquired during early childhood. A deeper understanding of how skills develop over the life cycle promises to enrich the economic theory and helps to understand the sources as well as the solutions for inequality.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Technische Universität Dresden

Year

2010

Author dc:creator

• Coneus, Katja

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kemnitz, Alexander
• Hirte, Georg

• early childhood
• birth weight
• cognitive skills
• noncognitive skills
• family
• Frühe Kindheit
• Geburtsgewicht
• kognitive Fähigkeiten
• nicht-kognitive Fähigkeiten
• Familie