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Parenting Styles and Their Determinants: A Survey and RCT Study

Last registered on August 08, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Parenting Styles and Their Determinants: A New Survey-Based Exploration
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016458
Initial registration date
August 06, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
August 08, 2025, 7:19 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Ester Faia
Affiliation
Goethe University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Matthias Doepke
PI Affiliation
London School of Ecobomics
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PI Name
Fabrizio Zilibotti
PI Affiliation
Yale University
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PI Name
Giuseppe Sorrenti
PI Affiliation
University of Lausanne
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-10-01
End date
2025-10-31
Keywords
Behavior, Education, Labor
Additional Keywords
Parenting styles, Intergenerational transmission of preferences, Intergenerational mobility, Culture and social stratification, Amenities, Labor market prospects, Exposure to learning, Social media, Financial constraints
JEL code(s)
H4, H7, I24, I26, J62, R23
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This project represents a new and innovative data collection effort on parenting in the United States. The survey has a dual purpose, combining both descriptive and experimental components to deepen our understanding of parenting decisions in contemporary society.

The first part is descriptive and aims to capture and characterize parenting choices across a broad set of dimensions. Drawing on established classifications of parenting styles (e.g., Baumrind, 1967)—a framework now widely used in economics (see Doepke and Zilibotti, 2017; Doepke, Sorrenti, and Zilibotti, 2019)—we collect detailed information on how parents approach decisions related to residential choices, educational investments, how they promote and support their children’s school effort, whether and how they intervene in their children's peer group formation, and broader child-rearing practices and household dynamics. These choices are analyzed conditional on key characteristics such as household income, parental education, current and past residential location, and other relevant socio-demographic factors. This section seeks to document new insights into how parenting varies across different segments of the population.

The second part of the survey adopts an experimental approach to better understand the determinants of parenting choices—specifically, how these choices might shift in response to changes in the family’s socio-economic environment. To this end, we randomly assign respondents to different hypothetical scenarios that simulate real-life conditions, such as relocating to a neighborhood with higher crime prevalence or encountering a change in the school admission system. Each respondent first answers a set of questions about their parenting styles. They are then exposed to a randomized treatment—such as being told they have moved to a neighborhood with specific characteristics—after which they are asked the same set of parenting questions again. This before-and-after comparison allows us to identify how parenting choices respond to perceived changes in the environment.

Respondents are assigned to one of several treatment arms, each corresponding to a different scenario relevant to parenting. In addition, we include a control group that receives neutral information unrelated to parenting or the family environment (e.g., general historical facts). By comparing responses across treatment and control groups, as well as within individuals before and after the hypothetical scenarios, we aim to assess the sensitivity of parenting decisions to specific environmental factors and uncover the mechanisms through which context shapes parental behavior and styles.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Doepke, Matthias et al. 2025. "Parenting Styles and Their Determinants: A New Survey-Based Exploration." AEA RCT Registry. August 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16458-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We plan to implement a new survey data collection that combines detailed questions on parenting styles with a randomized experimental component. The general survey section will gather rich information on how parents make decisions related to residential choices, educational investments, peer group formation, and broader household dynamics. The experimental component introduces randomized hypothetical scenarios designed to simulate changes in the family’s socio-economic environment. For example, some respondents will be asked to imagine relocating to a neighborhood with specific features such as higher crime rates or lower school quality, while others may receive information about the introduction of new admission criteria to top schools, etc. Respondents first answer a set of parenting-related questions, then receive one of these treatments or a control condition unrelated to parenting and are asked the same questions again. This design enables within-subject comparisons and allows us to identify how parenting behaviors and styles respond to perceived environmental changes.

We will use the new data generated by this survey in two complementary ways: (i) to conduct reduced-form analyses that exploit the random assignment of treatments to identify how parenting styles and behaviors shift in response to different "shocks"; and (ii) to estimate structural models of family decision-making and human capital formation. This will allow us to assess the underlying preferences and trade-offs parents face and to infer broader implications for intergenerational mobility, the transmission of preferences, social inclusion, and the development of individual human capital.
Intervention Start Date
2025-10-01
Intervention End Date
2025-10-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The goal is to measure the pecuniary and non-pecuniary motives behind parenting choices and to assess their role on various society's outcome by estimating structural models with the survey data. Preferences and expectations, which are typically involved into lifetime choices such as locations, are hard to identify from actual data due to a selection effect. This motivates the need for the random assignment of each respondent to a hypothetical new situation/scenario.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This study explores how parents make decisions related to their children’s upbringing, with a focus on residential choices and other important decisions at the family level. Respondents are randomly assigned to hypothetical scenarios in which they are asked to imagine moving to a new neighborhood. These scenarios vary contextual features— such as crime prevalence or school quality—to assess how different factors influence parenting styles. A control group is exposed to information unrelated to parenting or residential decisions.

Multiple scenarios, likely two or three, will be developed and may be implemented in different waves of the survey, depending on feasibility issues related with the data collection process.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
The survey will be run online by Qualtrics.
Randomization Unit
Household or family representative.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Total number of units is approximately 10,000 households roughly (one respondent per household). We plan three or four randomisation arms and a minimum of 2000 units per cluster.
We are evaluating whether to administer a treatment of a second hypothetical scenario in a second wave.
Sample size: planned number of observations
From 7500 to 10000 family heads/ respondents.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
We expect 2,000-2,500 or more per treatment arm, hence about four randomised treatment arms.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
To be computed.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan