Parental Education and Child Health—Understanding the Pathways of Impact in Pakistan
Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between parental schooling on the one hand, and child health outcomes (height and weight) and parental health-seeking behavior (immunization status of children), on the other. Using unique data from Pakistan, we aim to understand the mechanisms through which parental schooling promotes better child health and health-seeking behavior. The following “pathways” are investigated: educated parents’ greater household income, exposure to media, literacy, labor market participation, health knowledge, and the extent of maternal empowerment within the home. We find that while father’s education is positively associated with the immunization decision, mother’s education is more critically associated with longer term health outcomes in OLS equations. Instrumental Variable (IV) estimates suggest that father’s health knowledge is most positively associated with immunization decisions while mother’s health knowledge and her empowerment within the home are the channels through which her education impacts her child’s height and weight respectively.Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Elsevier in its journal World Development.
Volume (Year): 40 (2012)
Issue (Month): 10 ()
Pages: 2014-2032
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Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev
Related research
Keywords: parental schooling; mother’s health knowledge; father’s health knowledge; media exposure; maternal empowerment; child health; Pakistan; South Asia;Other versions of this item:
- Monazza Aslam & Geeta Kingdon, 2010. "Parental Education and Child Health - Understanding the Pathways of Impact in Pakistan," CSAE Working Paper Series 2010-16, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
References
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- Thomas, Duncan & Strauss, John & Henriques, Maria-Helena, 1990. "Child survival, height for age and household characteristics in Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 197-234, October.
- Philip Oreopoulos & Mark Stabile & Randy Walld & Leslie L. Roos, 2008.
"Short-, Medium-, and Long-Term Consequences of Poor Infant Health: An Analysis Using Siblings and Twins,"
Journal of Human Resources,
University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(1).
- Phil Oreopoulos & Mark Stabile & Randy Walld & Leslie Roos, 2006. "Short, Medium, and Long Term Consequences of Poor Infant Health: An Analysis using Siblings and Twins," NBER Working Papers 11998, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- VAN DE GAER, Dirk & VANDENBOSSCHE, Joost & FIGUEROA, José Luis, 2012.
"Children’s health opportunities and project evaluation: Mexico’s Oportunidades program,"
CORE Discussion Papers
2012015, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
- D. Van De Gaer & J. Vandenbossche & J. L. Figueroa, 2011. "Children’s health opportunities and project evaluation: Mexico’s Oportunidades program," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 11/749, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
- Van de gaer, Dirk & Vandenbossche, Joost & Figueroa, Jose Luis, 2013. "Children's health opportunities and project evaluation : Mexico's Oportunidades program," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6345, The World Bank.
- Francesco Burchi, 2012. "Whose education affects a child’s nutritional status? From parents' to household's education," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(23), pages 681-704, November.
- Ana Maria Osorio & Catalina Bolancé & Nyovane Madise & Katharina Rathmann, 2013. "Social Determinants of Child Health in Colombia: Can Community Education Moderate the Effect of Family Characteristics?," Working Papers XREAP2013-02, Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP), revised Mar 2013.
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