Maternal confidence after birth in at-risk and not-at-risk mothers: internal and external validity of the Danish version of the Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale (KPCS).

Background: Parenting confidence is a key factor in predicting a range of outcomes for both parents and children, such as parental depression, parental stress, and child health development. This study examines maternal confidence in at-risk and not-at-risk mothers and the psychometric properties of the Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale (KPCS).

Results: The total sample consisted of 695 mothers (488 not-at-risk and 207 at-risk) from a community setting.

Childhood health shocks, comparative advantage, and long-term outcomes: Evidence from the last Danish polio epidemic.

This paper examines the long-term effects of childhood disability on individuals' educational and occupational choices, late-career labor market participation, and mortality. We merge medical records on children hospitalized with poliomyelitis during the 1952 Danish epidemic to census and administrative data, and exploit quasi-random variation in paralysis incidence in this population. While childhood disability increases the likelihood of early retirement and disability pension receipt at age 50, paralytic polio survivors are more likely to obtain a university degree and to go on to work in white-collar and computer-demanding jobs than their non-paralytic counterparts.