From Cradle to Grave? The Lasting Impact of Childhood Health and Circumstances

Publication Date:

Publisher: Center for Health and Wellbeing

Author(s): A. Case; A. Fertig; C. Paxson

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

Recent research suggests that childhood health may be an important contributor to the positive association between good health and higher economic status observed in adulthood. In this paper, authors Case, Fertig and Paxson quantify the lasting effects of childhood health and economic circumstances on adult health and earnings, using data from a birth cohort that has been followed from birth to middle age: participants in the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) from Great Britain. Researchers in this study collected data on the medical, social, demographic and economic status of this cohort at birth and at ages 7, 11, 16, 23, 33 and 42. The authors examine the effects of health and circumstances in childhood on adult employment and earnings. For employment, analysis indicates that chronic health conditions in childhood have significant effects on employment in adulthood. An additional chronic condition at age 16 reduces the probability of employment at 42 by 2.2 percentage points for women and by 4.8 percentage points for men. Similarly, the data show a significant association between childhood health and adult earnings in men, where an additional chronic condition at age 7 is associated with a 5.6 percent reduction in earnings at age 42. To explain these results, the authors discuss several possible models of the dynamics involved, such as the fetal origins hypothesis, certain life course models and some pathways models. In general, the effects presented in this paper operate primarily through the effect of poor childhood health on educational attainment, and on initial earnings and health at age 23. These findings suggest more attention be paid to health as a potential mechanism through which poverty is passed from generation to generation.