Child Development and Caregiver’s Subjective Well-being

Abstract

This paper examines the links between early childhood development and the subjective well-being of their caregivers. Using survey data collected among 390 households in rural western China, we investigate the correlations between early child development indicators and the life evaluations, emotions and mental health of caregivers. We find that child development indicators are correlated with caregiver subjective well-being. In particular, social-emotional skills are positively associated with life evaluations and positive emotion at conventional significance levels. However, we do not find any significant correlation between child development and negative emotion or depression, anxiety and stress (DASS) scores.