SNS Research Brief 95. Parental Leave vs. Early Childcare (Datta Gupta och Jessen, 2023). A comment

In a current report from the Studieförbundet Näringsliv och Samhälle (SNS), two economic researchers, Datta Gupta and Jessen, compared children's early mental development between (1) being at home with mother, (2) being in kindergarten. But the report is neither based on developmental psychological research nor does it include children's relation to their father. Because Datta Gupta and Jessen (2023) does not meet these important criteria, their conclusions are not possible. 2 sidor.

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In a current report SNS Research Brief 95. Parental Leave vs. Early Childcare, two economists, Datta Gupta and Jessen, have compared children's early mental development between (1) being at home with mother, (2) being in kindergarten. But the report is neither based on developmental psychology research nor does it include children's relation to their father. On top of that, Datta Gupta and Jessen, claim causation.

“Policies such as paid parental leave strengthen career attachment and facilitate work-life balance for families with young children. At the same time, in most high-income countries a universal and subsidized childcare provision is now a key family policy tool for ensuring high female labour force participation. Are the long-run effects on children of spending more time with their parents vs. spending time in childcare roughly comparable or does one type of care outperform the other? This research brief reviews evidence from a number of recent studies bringing casual evidence on the (long-term) effects on children exposed to either parental (mostly maternal) care or childcare in early childhood. The authors focus in particular on the role of childcare quality, parental time use and socioeconomic differences”.

The first thing to note is that none of the researchers describe themselves as developmental psychologists, or even psychologists. Is that remarkable? This is how the different areas of competence are defined:

Economics focuses on the behavior and interactions of economic agents and how economies work (Wikipedia).

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior in humans and non-humans (Wikipedia).

Although both approaches study behavior, psychology is a science. Economics, on the other hand, aims to find out the effects of something on the economy, usually with a prediction model.

Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives (Wikipedia).

If one aims to study children's adjustment and development, to find out whether it is better for them to be at home or in daycare, then the model should partly include extensive research on childrens' emotional, social and cognitive development, and partly test for both the father- and mother relationship.

Because Datta Gupta and Jessen (2023) does not meet these important criteria, their conclusions are not possible.

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