Family socioeconomic status and child health: evidence from China
Date
2013
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health is an
important and policy relevant topic. Many studies have addressed this issue in recent
decades, but not much attention has been paid to the relationship between household
income and health for children until the 2000s. Even fewer studies have examined the
relationship between household income and child health in the developing countries.
To help bridge the gap in the literature, this thesis provides an empirical analysis of
the relationship between family socioeconomic status and child health in China. By
using the China Health and Nutrition Survey data set, this thesis finds the positive
relationship between household income and child health in China, and the relationship
becomes more pronounced as children age for 0-14 year old children. This result is
generally consistent with previous studies. However, this thesis also finds that the
protective effects of household income drop dramatically for 14-18 year old children
in China.
In order to address the possible mechanisms underlying the positive and
steepening relationship between household income and child health, this thesis
investigates several potential factors. The results indicate that location factor,
household registration factor ("hukou"), child health insurance, father's smoking
behavior, parental exercise behavior and parental BMI and obesity are all important factors affecting child health. However, only parental health status, especially mother's
health status, served as a mechanism underlying the relationship between household
income and child health. By exploiting the panel nature of the data, this thesis also
analyzes the role of health shocks in explaining the positive relationship between
household income and child health. The results suggest that the steepening positive
relationship between household income and child health in China can be explained by
the fact that low-SES children are subject to more health shocks. From a police
perspective, the results suggest that addressing the causes of health shocks for low-SES children in China may be a good way to improve their health status.