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• Home-visiting interventions have positive effects on child cognitive development, parenting beliefs and parenting practices of caregivers in rural China. • Home-visiting interventions have null effects on child social-emotional development in rural China. • Three mechanisms are identified through which interventions are able to raise child cognitive development. • Shifting parenting beliefs; increasing parenting practices; and shifting parenting beliefs thus fostering better parenting practices of primary caregivers are the three mechanisms that are driving our overall results of the impact of home-visiting interventions on early child development. To better understand the impacts of parenting interventions (e.g., parental training of psychosocial stimulating activities) on child developmental outcomes and design effective policies to benefit young children, it is essential to identify the mechanisms through which the interventions work. To this end, this paper presents the results of two randomized controlled trials that offered home visitation, parenting trainings to 435 households (with 527 households as the control group) in 174 villages across three provinces in China. The findings from the randomized controlled trials showed that the interventions significantly improved child cognitive development and had a positive effect on the primary caregivers' parenting practices and their parenting beliefs. The analysis suggests three possible mechanisms through which the parenting interventions affected child cognitive development: changing the parenting beliefs of the primary caregivers, shifting the parenting practices of the primary caregivers, and improving the primary caregivers' parenting beliefs, thus fostering better parenting practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impacts of both the availability and the quality of village preschools on student enrollment and longer-term outcomes in the context of the rapid development of early childhood education in the poorest areas of China. After the implementation of one of the world's largest universal preschool programs for a decade, the number of preschools in China has more than doubled while annual enrollments have increased by 60%. Using nationally representative survey data tracking children from 2010 to 2018, we identify the causal impacts of village preschools using a difference-in-differences instrumental variable approach. Building new preschools substantially increased students' access to early childhood education in low-income villages. We also find suggestive evidence of positive impacts on their cognitive skills four years after preschool enrollment, but not their non-cognitive skills. To identify the impacts of preschool quality, we re-examined the "One-Village-One-Preschool" experiment in one of China's poorest counties. High-quality preschools substantially improved students' academic outcomes, particularly among disadvantaged students. Our findings contribute new evidence on how early childhood education affects human capital development in low-income regions. • The number of preschools in China has more than doubled in the past decade under one of world's largest universal preschool programs. • Building new preschools substantially increased students' access to early childhood education in low-income villages. • We find evidence of positive impacts on students' cognitive skills four years after preschool enrollment, but not their non-cognitive skills. • High-quality preschools substantially improved students' academic outcomes, particularly among disadvantaged students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We apply generalized propensity score matching method and instrumental variable method to explore the relationship between breastfeeding duration and child development. • The relationship is relatively stable and presents a U shape, with the optimal breastfeeding duration (6–10 months) promoting children's early behavior performance. • Breastfeeding longer than the optimal duration delays child development. • The optimal duration of breastfeeding had a greater positive effect on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. • The conclusions of this paper have obvious practical value for the policy of child development strategies and parenting practices. Based on a large-scale survey in China, we use the generalized propensity score matching method and instrumental variable method to explore the effect of breastfeeding duration on child development, and find that there is a relatively stable "U" relationship between breastfeeding duration and children's early behavioral performance, with the optimal breastfeeding duration (6–10 months) promoting children's early behavioral performance. However, more than the optimal breastfeeding duration will delay child development. We further find that the effect of breastfeeding duration on child development varies among different groups. There is evidence that the optimal breastfeeding duration has a greater positive effect on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The conclusions of this paper have obvious practical value for the policy of child development strategies and parenting practices. Given the importance of early child development, there should be a reasonable breastfeeding duration, and the feeding interventions for disadvantaged children can bring higher returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]