Parental Education and Child Health - Understanding the Pathways of Impact in Pakistan

Monazza Aslam () and Geeta Kingdon

No 2010-16, CSAE Working Paper Series from Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between parental schooling on the one hand, and child health outcomes (height and weight) and parental health-seeking behaviour (immunisation status of children), on the other. While establishing a correlational link between parental schooling and child health is relatively straightforward, confirming a causal relationship is more complex. Using unique data from Pakistan, we aim to understand the mechanisms through which parental schooling promotes better child health and health-seeking behaviour. The following ‘pathways’ are investigated: educated parents’ greater household income, exposure to media, literacy, labour 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 'one-off' immunisation 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 immunisation 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.

Keywords: parental schooling; mother's health knowledge; father's health knowledge; media exposure; maternal empowerment; child health; immunisation; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-hea and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Parental Education and Child Health—Understanding the Pathways of Impact in Pakistan (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:csa:wpaper:2010-16

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