Fadhil Nadhif
Muharam

I study the impacts of raising the age of sexual consent, a legal framework designed to safeguard children from the risks associated with early sexual activity and exploitation. Using data from 20 Sub-Saharan African countries and an event study design, I find that increasing the age of consent significantly reduces sexual activity, pregnancy, and marriage among girls under the legal threshold, with effects persisting beyond the age of consent. These reductions are driven by behavioral adaptations, including temporary increases in contraceptive use, followed by sustained declines in sexual activity and a decrease in out-of-wedlock pregnancies linked to reductions in underage marriage. For boys, the reform leads to a reduction in sexual activity, but the effect is not persistent as they age. Notably, the law does not affect the rates of child sexual abuse, likely due to imperfect enforcement. I argue that the gendered differences in the persistence of effects, along with heterogeneous responses to the laws, point to the role of legislation in reinforcing social norms surrounding children's sexuality.

We examine how state-controlled media shapes gender norms by exploiting variation in exposure to Indonesia's TVRI during the New Order regime (1967–1998). The regime promoted State Ibuism, an ideology positioning women primarily as wives and mothers. Leveraging the staggered rollout of transmitters and terrain-driven signal variation, we find that television exposure significantly reduced female labor force participation while increasing the likelihood of women reporting housework as their primary activity. This decline reflects labor market withdrawal rather than sectoral upgrading. In contrast, male employment exhibited structural transformation from agriculture to modern sectors without significant exit. Despite potential income reductions from maternal market exit, child welfare improved: higher television exposure increased school enrollment, reduced child labor, and improved early-childhood health outcomes. Our findings demonstrate how authoritarian regimes use mass media as instruments of social engineering to reshape gender relations, with lasting effects for children's welfare.

This study explores the impact of Islamic institutions on female marriage market outcomes in Indonesia, using the natural experiment created by the 1960 Basic Agrarian Law. The law's attempt to expropriate land, with exemptions for Islamic charitable trusts (waqf), led to an increase in waqf resources, strengthening grassroots Islamic institutions. Employing a difference-in-discontinuity design, I find that stronger Islamic institutions delay the female age of marriage, increase the bride price, and promote positive assortative matching. Contrary to common beliefs that Islam hinders gender equality, these institutions appear to enhance marriage market efficiency and support women's empowerment. The findings suggest that community-led Islamic institutions could play a crucial role in delaying marriage age and improving educational outcomes for women.

Background. Parenting stress has long been proposed as a major risk factor for child maltreatment. However, there is a lack of evidence from existing studies on the temporal sequence to establish a causal relationship. This study aims to examine bidirectional temporal relationships between parenting stress and child maltreatment.

Methods. Longitudinal data from two different sources were analysed: a pre-post study of an online parenting programme conducted across six countries — the ePLH Evaluation Study, and a prospective cohort study in the United States — LONGSCAN. A cross-lagged panel model on parenting stress and child maltreatment was used in each dataset.

Results. Based on repeatedly measured data of 484 caregivers in the ePLH study across five time points (every two weeks), we found that parenting stress at an earlier time point predicted later child maltreatment (IRR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.18). In addition, the occurrence of child maltreatment was associated with higher subsequent short-term parenting stress (IRR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.08) and thus could form a vicious circle. In the LONGSCAN analysis with 772 caregivers followed from child age 6 to 16, we also found parenting stress at an earlier time point predicted later child maltreatment (β = 0.11, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.20), but did not observe an association between child maltreatment and subsequent long-term parenting stress.

Limitations. Potential information bias on the measurements.

Conclusions. This study provides evidence for a bidirectional temporal relationship between parenting stress and child maltreatment, which should be considered in parenting intervention programmes.