Abstract
In previous studies on social stratification and mobility in China, education is considered as the core mediatory factor in social reproduction and mobility. This paper, however, investigates how childhood health affects social stratification. Using data from Urbanization and Labor Migrant National Survey (2012), this study examines the effects of nutrition, hygiene, and health before age 14 on adult socioeconomic status attainment, including education, the international socioeconomic indexes of first job and current job, and family income per head. The structural equation model results show that the nutrition intake (whether one experienced starvation and the frequency of fish and meat intake) and hygiene (indicated by the source of drinking water and the toilet type) have significant effect on adult socioeconomic status attainment. However, the effects change at different life course stages. Moreover, childhood health (indicated by adult height) has significant impact on adult socioeconomic status attainment, but no significant impact on the international socioeconomic indexes of first job and current job. We conclude that investment in childhood health is an important mechanism affecting social class reproduction and mobility. Therefore, health intervention for children from poor and disadvantaged families are necessary. It will benefit children’s education and encourage upward mobility.
Highlights
In previous studies on social stratification and mobility in China, education is considered as the core mediatory factor in social reproduction and mobility
For the nominal variables of nutrient intake and hygiene, we reported the mean value of adult socioeconomic status (SES) variables in different nutritional/ hygienic categories
Existing research in China on social stratification and mobility has been largely focusing on education, and research on health inequality tends to focus on the influence of adult socioeconomic status on health, or what Marmot (2004) called “status symptom.”
Summary
That the health and nutrition of one generation contributes, through mothers and through infant and childhood experience, to the strength, health and longevity of the generation; at the same time, increased health and longevity enable the members of that generation to work harder and longer to create the resources which can in their turn, be used to assist the and succeeding, generations to prosper. Using retrospective studies and data of heights, this research analyzes the impacts of childhood nutrition, hygiene, and health on adult socioeconomic status (SES) attainment. Childhood health is mainly influenced by four factors: material conditions of the family, parents’ educational attainment and knowledge, psychological impacts of adverse events, and prenatal health. Living in contaminated areas or drinking from well instead of collective supply of water expose individuals to pollution of heavy metal (Zou et al 2008) Due to their low educational attainment, parents in low-income families often lack knowledge on healthcare and parenting, which may affect their children’s health (Currie and Goodman 2010). The following hypothesis will be tested: Hypothesis 1a Higher family SES (measured by father’s ISEI by age 14, parental educational attainment, parental household registration status) is associated with better childhood nutritional and hygienic condition.
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