Contributions of Research Based on the PSID Child Development Supplement

Abstract

This article summarizes important contributions of the Child Development Supplement to the PSID (PSID-CDS) to knowledge in child development, time use, media use, and health. The PSID-CDS began in 1997, surveying 2,394 households, including 3,563 children; three waves of data on the first cohort were collected—1997, 2002–03, and 2007–08—and a new cohort was interviewed in 2014. Hundreds of books, journal articles, and dissertations have used the PSID-CDS, and our overview of that literature points to unique methodological and measurement contributions, summarizes the motivation for research on parental investments in children, reviews findings regarding healthy child development, and examines the role of neighborhoods in children’s lives.