Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Early Childhood Health: The Case of Turkey

Deniz Karaoğlan () and Dürdane Şirin Saracoğlu ()
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Deniz Karaoğlan: Department of Economics, Bahçeşehir University
Dürdane Şirin Saracoğlu: Department of Economics, METU

No 1614, ERC Working Papers from ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University

Abstract: In this study we examine the association between parents’ socioeconomic status (SES) and childhood health in Turkey, a middle income, developing country using the 2013 round of Demographic Health Survey (DHS) data set. In our investigation, we focus on children from 7 to 59 months old and as a measure of health status, we use the height-for-age z-score, which is the measure of stunting and wasting. In order to overcome the biases with respect to age and gender, we calculate the child’s standardized height measure. Using classical regression techniques, after controlling for the child’s birth order, birth weight, mother’s height, mother’s breastfeeding, nutrition status and pre-school attendance, the impact of parent’s SES on child’s health measures is assessed, and parents’ SES indicators include region of residence, number of household members, father’s presence, parents’ education and work status, and household wealth index based on the household’s asset holdings. Our results indicate that while mother’s education and occupation type are among the leading factors that affect the child’s health status, urban residence appears to be the dominant factor which positively affects child’s health: SES of families proxied by living conditions and infrastructure factors such as sanitation, access to clean water, availability of electricity, which are under the control of local governments, as well as access to health care services must be improved for better child health.

Keywords: Health; children; z-score; household socioeconomic status; Turkey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C20 I15 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2016-14, Revised 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara, nep-dem and nep-hea
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http://erc.metu.edu.tr/en/system/files/menu/series16/1614.pdf First version, 2016 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:met:wpaper:1614

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