Research

Can early childhood policies reduce developmental inequalities
rooted in parental resources? 

Across high-income countries, children’s development often reflects deep social and economic inequalities, but in the United States, income-based gaps emerge especially large (Bradbury et al., 2019; Reardon & Portilla, 2016). One major potential pathway behind these disparities is unequal access to affordable, high-quality early education (Magnuson & Waldfogel, 2016). 

My research asks whether scaled-up early childhood education programs, such as pre-kindergarten (pre-K) policies, can narrow these gaps and serve as an equitable policy. Grounded in linked-lives life courseframework, I investigate how access to pre-K supports parents as well as children, and whether its benefits extend beyond the early years.

Recent Publications

"Parental job loss and young children’s socioemotional development during COVID-19" with Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Jane Waldfogel (2026, Children and Youth Services Review)

The surge in unemployment following the onset of COVID-19 exposed thousands of children to the experience of parental job loss. This study examines how parental job loss during COVID-19 affected the socioemotional development of preschool children, with a focus on the differential implications of a father’s versus a mother’s job loss. Using data from the Early Childhood Poverty Tracker (ECPT), which follows children's socioemotional development from pre-pandemic 2019 through the early and middle phases of the pandemic (2020–2021), we find that a father’s job loss is significantly associated with increased socioemotional problems in children, after controlling for their pre-pandemic socioemotional status. In contrast, no consistent evidence was found linking a mother’s job loss to similar negative outcomes. Additionally, the adverse effects of a father’s job loss are more pronounced in boys than in girls. Mechanistic analyses suggest that a father’s job loss is associated with reduced family income and diminished parent-child activities, which may explain these gendered effects. These findings highlight the unique and detrimental impact of a father’s job loss on early childhood socioemotional development, possibly reflecting traditional gender norms that expect fathers to be the primary economic providers.

“The Effects of Universal Pre-K for Three-year-old Children on Mothers’ Employment and Families’ Economic Well-being” (2025, Review of Economics of the Household)

This study leverages the staggered rollout of New York City’s universal pre-K program to estimate causal impacts using the Early Childhood Poverty Tracker, a longitudinal study of NYC families. While prior research has often focused narrowly on mothers’ labor supply, this paper demonstrates that universal pre-K also reduces material hardship by nearly eight percentage points (a 17% decline from a baseline rate of 42%). These effects were concentrated among low-income families, suggesting pre-K as a critical infrastructure for supporting economic stability. The findings also reveal differences by family structure: two-parent households were better able to leverage the program to support employment than single mothers, whose work-care challenges are likely to persist when program hours did not align with job schedules.

"Impact of the expanded child tax credit and its expiration on adult psychological well-being" with Jiwan Lee and Stacie Tao (2023, Social Science & Medicine) 

This study examines the impact of the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) under the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act on adult psychological well-being in the U.S. Using the Household Pulse Survey, we applied a difference-in-difference approach to assess the effects of the expanded CTC and its expiration on psychological distress among adults in households with children, with a focus on gender, education, marital status, and race/ethnicity. Results show the expanded CTC significantly reduced mild psychological distress, particularly among female, single, married, and Hispanic adults. However, no significant effects were found on moderate or severe distress, which may require more extensive interventions. After the CTC payments ended, there was an increase in moderate to severe psychological distress.

"Children’s time use patterns and subjective well-being in Asian countries" with Joan P. Yoo (2024, Child Indicators Research)

This study explores the relationship between children’s time use patterns and their subjective well-being across six emerging Asian economies. Using data from the third wave of the International Survey of Child Well-Being, Latent Profile Analysis identified distinct time use patterns based on 14 out-of-school activities among children in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The analysis revealed four to six unique patterns per country, with a common group of children less engaged in activities across all contexts. In countries with high mobile device penetration, children involved in a wide range of activities reported higher well-being than those with sedentary lifestyles. Conversely, in countries with lower device penetration, physical and social activities were linked to higher well-being.