Socioeconomic Status Gaps Research Articles

Children’s time allocation and the socioeconomic gap in human capital

Children’s time investments in various activities may be important for reducing socioeconomic status (SES) gaps in educational and mental health outcomes. Using detailed time use diaries of Australian children aged 4–14, we observe that children from low SES backgrounds spend more time on digital media and less time on out-of-school enrichment activities, organised or for leisure. We explain the SES gap by employing a human capital development panel model and find that this difference contributes about 3% to the observed SES gap in numeracy skills. The results are supported by exogeneity tests and numerous robustness checks. The contribution is larger for males, older age groups, and if the cumulative effect on learning is considered. No clear results are found for literacy skills and mental health outcomes. The findings imply that interventions promoting a shift away from digital media towards out-of-school enrichment activities could help reduce the SES gap in human capital.

Individual-level socioeconomic status and cataract-induced visual disability among older adults in China: the overview and urban-rural difference.

To investigate the prevalence of cataract-induced visual disability and its association with individual-level socioeconomic status (SES) among older adults in China. Using the data of 354,743 older adults (60 years and older) from the Second China National Sample Survey on Disability in 2006. Cross-sectional study design was applied. The differences in visual disability prevalence of cataracts among sociodemographic subgroups were analyzed by the chi-square test, and the association between individual-level SES and cataract-induced visual disability was investigated by the multivariate logistic regression model. The weighted visual disability prevalence of cataracts was 4.84% in 2006. Older people with a higher household income per capita (OR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.81-0.85), higher education level (primary school vs. illiteracy: OR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.76-0.83; ≥undergraduate college vs. illiteracy: OR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.25-0.39), and occupation (OR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.50-0.56) were less likely to suffer from cataract-induced visual disability. Household income per capita and education level increase played a greater role in decreasing the risk of visual disability caused by cataracts in urban areas, while having occupation contributed more to reducing the risk of disability in rural areas. The gap in individual-level SES is closely related to the visual health inequities among older Chinese people and there are two distinct mechanisms in rural and urban areas. Strategies to promote collaborative healthcare development regionally, strengthen safeguards for disadvantaged groups, and increase public awareness of visual disability prevention are warranted.

Quality and inequality in pre-primary and home environment inputs to early childhood development in Egypt

By the time children start primary school, large socioeconomic disparities are evident in their learning and development. Both pre-primary and home environments can play important roles in influencing school readiness and can contribute to disparities in early childhood development, but there is limited evidence on their relative roles in the Middle East and North Africa. This paper examines how pre-primary quality, stimulation at home, and early childhood development vary by socioeconomic status for pre-primary students in Egypt. The results demonstrate substantial socioeconomic inequality in stimulation at home, more so than in pre-primary quality and inputs, although there is variation in the degree of inequality across different dimensions of pre-primary quality. “Double inequality” is observed, where students with less stimulating home environments experience slightly lower quality pre-primary inputs. There are particularly large pre-primary inequities in structural quality (physical environment) and less inequity in process quality (pedagogy). These results suggest that targeted investments in pre-primary education in Egypt are necessary to reduce inequality in school readiness but are likely insufficient to close the socioeconomic status gap in children's development. Investing in interventions to improve vulnerable children's home learning environments, as well as investing in quality pre-primary, is critical to address disparities in children's development.

Trends and Determinants of Intergenerational Educational Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa for Birth Cohorts 1974 to 2003

This article expands the scope of comparative social stratification research in education to rapidly developing, largely low-income sub-Saharan Africa. First, we investigate trends in the association between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and children’s chances to attend and complete primary education, exploring whether and where educational expansion of the early twenty-first century led to equalization of educational opportunities. Drawing on data from 153 Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (1990–2017) from 40 countries, findings indicate that inequality in attendance declined, but inequality in completing six grades largely persisted. Cross-country analyses reveal a large variation in inequality levels and trends. We explore the role of national contextual factors and find that underweight prevalence, fertility rates, school fees, public spending on education, and the ratio of pupils to teaching staff systematically explain variation in SES gaps across countries and cohorts. Findings underline the importance of absolute material deprivation and school teaching resources in the stratification of educational opportunities in this region.

The summer parental investment gap? Socioeconomic gaps in the seasonality of parental expenditures and time with school-age children

Inequalities in parental investments can shape inequalities in children’s outcomes and life chances. Scholars have theorized how socioeconomic status (SES) may moderate how parents use parental investments to respond to the loss of the provision of public schooling during the summer. We investigate the seasonality of SES gaps in parental investments of both money and time in the United States using the 1996–2019 Consumer Expenditure Survey and the 2003–2019 American Time Use Survey. We find SES gaps in parental investments of both money and time during the summer, and that SES gaps in expenditures are larger in the summer than during non-summer months. We find little evidence that any of these gaps have grown substantially over time. Finally, we find evidence that SES gaps in summer paternal investments of time are driven by investments in younger rather than older school-aged children. Our findings contribute to our understanding of the link between public and parental investments in children, address a key mechanism in the debate about the summer learning gap, and provide new evidence on how parents may target investments in children towards the ages when they are most consequential.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CVD prevention between different socioeconomic groups in Switzerland

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the continuing management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in the population. Socioeconomic status (SES) is a major determinant of health. Whether the COVID-19 pandemic increased,...

Heterogeneous responses to school track choice: Evidence from the repeal of binding track recommendations

This paper studies how introducing free school track choice in Germany’s between-school tracking system through a repeal of binding track recommendations affects track decisions by socio-economic status (SES). While highest track enrollment increases for previously ineligible high-SES students relative to comparable low-SES students, the SES gap does not increase. This is because previously eligible low-SES student become more likely to enroll in the highest track. A key mechanism for this response appears to be lower preferences for the intermediate track due to concerns about the inflow of mostly low-achieving and low-SES students from the lowest track after the repeal.

Association between Socioeconomic Status and Healthcare Utilization for Children with Allergic Diseases: Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (2015-2019).

This study aimed to investigate the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and healthcare utilization by children with allergic diseases. We determined SES based on parental occupation and household income. A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (KNHANES) between 2015 and 2019 with participants who were under 18 years of age. The presence of allergic conditions was determined by a self-reported survey of parental response and healthcare utilization data (such as inpatient and outpatient visits). Moreover, we categorized SES into four quantiles (Q1-Q4) based on household income per annum. Then, the data were analyzed using chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression analysis with confidence intervals (CIs) of 95%, and p < 0.05 was considered significant. A total of 3250 participants were involved in this study. The percentage of allergic diseases was 67.9% for allergic asthma and 32.1% for atopic dermatitis. It was found that the participants who were over 13 years old had atopic dermatitis and were more likely to visit the hospital than younger children. Additionally, the highest SES group in Q4 demonstrated higher healthcare utilization (OR = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.14-1.76) than other SES groups. Our study reveals that parental socioeconomic characteristics are related to the use of healthcare services for children with allergic disorders in Korea. These results highlight the need for public health actions and research to overcome the SES gap among children with allergic diseases.

What can parents do? The causal mediating role of parenting in explaining SES differences in children's language development

Objective: This study estimates how much of the differences by socioeconomic status (SES) in children’s language development are mediated by parenting styles, parenting practices, and parental investments. Background: There are large differences in children’s language development by parental socioeconomic status (SES). According to some studies, SES gaps in language skills among preschoolers could be reduced substantially by intervening in the parenting styles, practices, and parental investments of low-SES parents. However, the extent to which parenting mediates the effects on language skills of growing up in low-SES contexts is still unknown. Method: This paper uses data from the National Educational Panel Study starting cohort 1, a random sample of children born between 2012 and 2013 in Germany and employs interventional causal mediation analysis to estimate the mediated share of the total effect of SES on children’s language that goes through parenting, broadly understood. Results: Parenting explains around one-third of the total effect of SES on early language skills, but close to nothing of the effect on later language skills. Conclusion: Although a share of the SES effect operates through parenting, and all parenting dimensions affect children’s language skills, interventions in parenting would be limited in their ability to reduce the gap in substantial ways. Alternative pathways, through which inequality in language skills is reproduced, could potentially explain a larger share of this effect.

Early childhood education attendance and school readiness in low- and middle-income countries: The moderating role of family socioeconomic status

This study examined associations between attendance at early childhood education (ECE) programs and school readiness, and the extent to which the ECE–school readiness association is moderated by family socioeconomic status (SES). Data were from 58 low- and middle-income countries (N = 165,875, Mage = 47.52 months). Multilevel analysis showed that ECE attendance was positively associated with total and domain-specific school readiness, in addition to the role of family SES. The association was of medium effect size for literacy–numeracy readiness and small effect size for learning and socioemotional readiness. The ECE–school readiness association was moderated by family SES, although this varied by school readiness domains. While the ECE–literacy–numeracy association was stronger for high SES children (i.e., leveraging effect), the ECE–learning readiness association was stronger for lower SES peers (i.e., compensatory effect). No SES differences were observed for socioemotional competency (i.e., additive effect). Our findings suggest that although ECE attendance plays a significant role in developing school readiness competencies in LMIC contexts, it is strongly geared towards cognitive outcomes and therefore requiring a focus on other developmental domains. Additionally, for ECE to help close the SES gap in children’s school readiness and subsequent learning outcomes, policy makers must pay attention to increasing both the quantity and quality ECE of provision for children from low SES backgrounds.

No Matthew effects and stable SES gaps in math and language achievement growth throughout schooling: Evidence from Germany

Abstract The extent to which achievement gaps become wider or narrower over the course of schooling is a topic that is widely discussed, both publicly and in educational research. This study examines whether absolute achievement (in language and math skills) and social origin gaps grow throughout the school career. To investigate the achievement growth of three German student cohorts (N = 14,273) at different stages of their school career (primary school, lower secondary school, and upper secondary school), I use multilevel models to estimate the effects of prior achievement and social origin on achievement growth. The results consistently suggest a negative association between prior achievement and subsequent growth; hence, initially low-performing students have higher achievement gains than initially high-performing students. Additionally, I find that social origin gaps remain stable over time. However, when controlling for initial achievement, slightly growing socio-economic status gaps can be observed.

New horizontal inequalities in Japanese education? Examining socioeconomic selectivity in pre-college study abroad intent and participation

The literature on social inequality in study abroad almost exclusively focuses on university students. This paper systematically examines the role of socioeconomic status (SES) for study abroad intent (SAI) and uptake across all levels of pre-college education in Japan, thereby also providing a first in-depth empirical study on pre-college study abroad (PSA) in this country. Drawing on theories of social inequality (especially the effectively maintained inequality (EMI) thesis) in combination with elements from cumulative advantage and life course research, we understand the intention and final decision to study abroad as an outcome of SES-specific differences in educational biographies, with higher SES families seeking transnational education for their children to achieve status advantages. Using large-scale cross-sectional data for Japan ( N = 15,450) for children aged three to eighteen years, binary and generalized ordered logit regressions show that children from high SES families are generally more likely to (1) express SAI (especially for college) and take up PSA; and (2) choose more exclusive forms of PSA, i.e. earlier and more lengthy stays. Findings further indicate that (3) the SES-gap in the likelihood to show SAI or take up PSA is highest at the pre- and high school levels. Applying the KHB method we found that (4) the percentage of SES effects on SAI mediated through earlier PSA experience is marginal or even reversed at times. We conclude that early PSA experience is positively related to further SAI, with high SES students likely accumulating transnational human capital to a greater extent, possibly acquiring status advantages. In sum, our results support the EMI and cumulative advantage perspectives, indicating undetected first- and second-level horizontal inequalities in Japanese education and call for similar research in other national contexts. • The likelihood for pre-college study abroad intent and uptake is higher for children from higher SES backgrounds. • SES effects on short- and long-term pre-college stays abroad are always significant, but highest at pre- and high school. • Prior study abroad hardly mediates SES effects on study abroad intent indicating a widening SES gap in future study abroad. • Our findings point to first- and second-level horizontal inequalities in study abroad uptake in Japan.

Long-run Trends in the U.S. SES—Achievement Gap

Abstract Rising inequality in the United States has raised concerns about potentially widening gaps in educational achievement by socioeconomic status (SES). Using assessments from LTT-NAEP, Main-NAEP, TIMSS, and PISA that are psychometrically linked over time, we trace trends in SES gaps in achievement for U.S. student cohorts born between 1961 and 2001. Gaps in math, reading, and science achievement between the top and bottom quartiles of the SES distribution have closed by 0.05 standard deviation per decade over this period. The findings are consistent across alternative measures of SES and subsets of available tests and hold in more recent periods. At the current pace of closure, the achievement gap would not be eliminated until the second half of the 22nd century.

Stepping up to the Canadian opioid crisis: a longitudinal analysis of the correlation between socioeconomic status and population rates of opioid-related mortality, hospitalization and emergency department visits (2000-2017).

High levels of income inequality and increased opioid-related harm across Canada bring into question the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the opioid epidemic. Only a few studies have examined this association, and most of those have analyzed this issue on a provincial level. This study examined the association between opioid-related health outcomes and SES, and investigated rate ratios over time. Administrative databases were used to identify opioid-related mortality, hospitalization and emergency department visits between 2000 and 2017. Patient's postal code was linked to the quintile of median household income at the forward sortation area level. Crude rates and age- and sex-adjusted rates in each quintile were calculated, as well as the adjusted rate ratio of average annual rates between the lowest and highest quintiles. The significance of the time trend of rate ratios for all outcomes was examined using linear regression. A stepped gradient of opioid-related outcomes across all income quintiles emerged from these data. For mortality, hospitalization and emergency department visits, the average annual rate ratio between lowest quintile and highest quintile was 3.8, 4.3 and 4.9, respectively. These ratios were generally stable and consistent over the study period, albeit the opioid-related mortality SES gap decreased gradually (p < 0.01). Area income quintile was found to be highly associated with opioid outcomes. Psychosocial factors (stress, unemployment, housing insecurity) that are typically concentrated in low SES areas may play a significant role in the opioid epidemic. Health policies should address these factors in order to provide effective solutions.

Income Gradient in Children’s Physical Activity: Diminished Returns in Black Families

Background: Children are exposed to a wide range of stressful life events (SLEs) in the family and the community. Exposure to stress in the community as well as the family may depend on socioeconomic status (SES) and race/ ethnicity. Currently, there is limited data that explores different types of SLEs experienced by racial and ethnic groups of children. Aim: To compare the different types of SLEs experienced by a racially and ethnically diverse group of children, with a major emphasis on family and community context. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 5066 adolescents 9-10 years of age from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Race and ethnicity were the independent variables. The main outcomes were exposure to eight types of SLEs measured during an interview with the parent. Age and gender were the confounders. Parental marital status, parental education, parental employment, financial difficulties, and neighborhood income were the mediators. Logistic regression was used to analyze the data. Results: In the absence of SES in the model, Black but not Latino children experienced higher levels of SLEs in some but not all domains. SES explained some of the effects of race on SLEs, however, race remained significant in some domains, when the effects of SES indicators were controlled. While we found the same pattern for family and neighborhood SLEs, the observations showed some degrees of heterogeneities based on the specific type of SLE. There were also domains of SLEs that did not correlate with race. However, all types of SLEs were associated with SES. Conclusions: Our study showed that Black race, but not Latino ethnicity, is associated with disproportionately higher levels of experiencing family and neighborhood SLEs. The effects of race on some but not all types of SLEs are due to the racial gap in SES. Racial health quality requires the elimination of racial inequalities in exposure to stressful life events.

Development of socio-economic gaps in children's language skills in Germany.

Gaps in language skills by socio-economic status (SES) are already evident before school entry, and these gaps may change over time. After discussing mechanisms of cumulative advantages ('Matthew effects') and compensatory effects as well as the relevance of cultural capital and child-related activities in families, this paper tests mechanisms behind changing SES gaps in language skills from age five to nine in Germany. Analysing data from the German National Educational Panel Study with growth curve models, we find widening SES gaps in children's vocabulary. Children of mothers with low educational attainment show a far below-average increase in skills. The findings are in line with cumulative advantage by status, although initial skills predict their growth over time as well. There are no signs of any type of compensatory effects. Reading aloud to children appears to substantially impact and mediate SES differences in vocabulary progress.

Test scores and educational opportunities: Panel evidence from five low- and middle-income countries

The association between test scores in primary school and college attendance, and how this association differs by socioeconomic status (SES), remains an open question in low- and middle-income countries. Using data from long-running panel studies in Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Peru and Vietnam, we show that children with higher test scores at age 12 report more years of schooling and higher college attendance by ∼age 22 in every country. However, variation in test scores explain only ∼15–55% of the SES gap in years of completed schooling at age 22. A striking implication is that in every country, children from low SES backgrounds who are in the 80th percentile of test scores at age 12 have similar years of completed schooling at age 22 as children from high SES backgrounds who were at the 20th percentile of test scores.

Disadvantaged Americans are suffering the brunt of rising pain and physical limitations.

Using data from three national surveys of US adults (one cohort and two cross-sectional studies, covering the period from the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s), we quantify the degree to which disparities by socioeconomic status (SES) in self-reported pain and physical limitations widened and explore whether they widened more in midlife than in later life. Unlike most prior studies that use proxy measures of SES (e.g., education), we use a multidimensional measure of SES that enables us to evaluate changes over time in each outcome for fixed percentiles of the population, thereby avoiding the problem of lagged selection bias. Results across multiple datasets demonstrate that socioeconomic disparities in pain and physical limitations consistently widened since the late 1990s, and if anything, widened even more in midlife than in late life (above 75). For those aged 50-74, the SES disparities in most outcomes widened by more than 50% and in some cases, the SES gap more than doubled. In contrast, the magnitude of SES widening was much smaller above age 75 and, in the vast majority of cases, not significant. Pain prevalence increased at all levels of SES, but disadvantaged Americans suffered the largest increases. Physical function deteriorated for those with low SES, but there was little change and perhaps improvement among the most advantaged Americans. At the 10th percentile of SES, the predicted percentage with a physical limitation at age 50 increased by 6-10 points between the late-1990s and the 2010s, whereas at the 90th percentile of SES, there was no change in two surveys and in the third survey, the corresponding percentage declined from 31% in 1996-99 to 22% in 2016-18. The worst-off Americans are being left behind in a sea of pain and physical infirmity, which may have dire consequences for their quality of life and for society as a whole (e.g., lost productivity, public costs).

Public beliefs about the black/white socioeconomic status gap: What's “upbringing” got to do with it?*

AbstractObjectiveCiting the black family as the locus of responsibility for black disadvantage has a long history in the United States; however, only limited research has examined the place of family upbringing in studies of Americans’ beliefs about the causes of racial inequality.MethodsWe use data from the 2010, 2012, and 2014 General Social Surveys (GSS) to examine the prevalence and selected correlates of a newly offered (by the GSS) and culturally centered explanation of the black/white socioeconomic status gap focusing on “differences in upbringing.”ResultsThe “upbringing” explanation is the most popular of the five reasons offered by the GSS in all three waves of data available for examination. Three‐quarters of GSS respondents endorse this view, while less than half endorse the next most popular explanation. Upbringing is also the most popular explanation among all three race/ethnic groups we examine, though non‐Hispanic whites endorse this view most strongly.ConclusionOur results offer important insights for future survey design and investigations of public beliefs about racial inequality.

Skilled Nursing Facility Participation in a Voluntary Medicare Bundled Payment Program: Association With Facility Financial Performance.

Model 3 of the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) is an alternative payment model in which an entity takes accountability for the episode costs. It is unclear how BPCI affected the overall skilled nursing facility (SNF) financial performance and the differences between facilities with differing racial/ethnic and socioeconomic status (SES) composition of the residents. The objective of this study was to determine associations between BPCI participation and SNF finances and across-facility differences in SNF financial performance. A longitudinal study spanning 2010-2017, based on difference-in-differences analyses for 575 persistent-participation SNFs, 496 dropout SNFs, and 13,630 eligible nonparticipating SNFs. Inflation-adjusted operating expenses, revenues, profit, and profit margin. BPCI was associated with reductions of $0.63 million in operating expenses and $0.57 million in operating revenues for the persistent-participation group but had no impact on the dropout group compared with nonparticipating SNFs. Among persistent-participation SNFs, the BPCI-related declines were $0.74 million in operating expenses and $0.52 million in operating revenues for majority-serving SNFs; and $1.33 and $0.82 million in operating expenses and revenues, respectively, for non-Medicaid-dependent SNFs. The between-facility SES gaps in operating expenses were reduced (differential difference-in-differences estimate=$1.09 million). Among dropout SNFs, BPCI showed mixed effects on across-facility SES and racial/ethnic differences in operating expenses and revenues. The BPCI program showed no effect on operating profit measures. BPCI led to reduced operating expenses and revenues for SNFs that participated and remained in the program but had no effect on operating profit indicators and mixed effects on SES and racial/ethnic differences across SNFs.