Publication:

Impacts of a Large-Scale Parenting Program: Experimental Evidence from Chile

This paper presents results from a large-scale experimental evaluation of the impacts on parents and children of a national parenting program in Chile. The program is low cost: it lasts only for six to eight weeks, and it is administered to groups (of 8 to 12 parents) rather than individuals. It is implemented by the national health system, taking advantage of its existing physical infrastructure, and the deep staff knowledge about the constraints faced by parents and children in each location. We find that children whose parents are offered the opportunity to participate in this program experience increases in their vocabulary and socio-emotional development scores of 0.1 standard deviations (SD), which are mirrored by improvements in parenting behaviors and parenting beliefs of the same magnitude. These impacts are observed almost three years after the intervention ends, far outlasting its duration.