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Title: Parental Investment, Child Health Formation and Racial Differences
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Fang, Muriel Z. |
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Parental Investment, Child Health Formation and Racial Differences Presented: Paris, France, EUCCONET/Society For Longitudinal And Life Course Studies International Conference, October 2012 Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79 Publisher: Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Keyword(s): Birthweight; Body Mass Index (BMI); Child Health; Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Parental Investments; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Racial Differences; Siblings Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. Recent researchers across social and medical sciences suggest early life circumstances have long term consequences for adult physical, cognitive and emotional health. This has given rise to the theory of developmental plasticity that children are most sensitive to inputs received during their early years. Evaluation of this hypothesis demands a study that accounts for the dynamic and cumulative nature of health formation process, which is lacking in the literature. I contribute to this investigation by empirically testing the hypothesis: I estimate a value-added child health production function with time varying rates of return to investment. Using the Children of U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (CNLSY79), I employed a multiple-indicator multiple-cause (MIMIC) model in which concurrent measurements act as instrumental variables. I find that investment rates of return during the prenatal and infancy periods are higher than those in subsequent periods of a child’s life. I also explore racial differences in the production function and find that rates of return to investment are lower for black children than for whites. This finding contributes to an understanding of how racial disparity in health at birth persists through childhood. |
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Bibliography Citation
Fang, Muriel Z. "Parental Investment, Child Health Formation and Racial Differences." Presented: Paris, France, EUCCONET/Society For Longitudinal And Life Course Studies International Conference, October 2012. |