The Effects of Child Health on Marital Status / Hope Corman, Robert Kaestner.

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Corman, Hope

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Material type: Text

TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w3850.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1991.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Subject(s):

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Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on the effect of child health on marital stability and family structure within an economic framework. We use the 1988 National Health Interview Survey's Child Health Supplement, with a sample of about 9,000 families to test whether having an unhealthy child decreases the mother's chance of being married, and whether it increases her chance of living in an extended family. Using two different measures of child health, we find that having an unhealthy child does decrease the mother's likelihood of being married. Our results are strongest for white women who were married at the time of the child's birth and for black women who were unmarried at that time. These results imply that children in poor health will, more likely, face obstacles beyond their illness, since they will also be more likely to suffer consequences of poverty and poor schooling outcomes which results when raised in a female headed household. The only mitigating factor is that, for white children, they will be more likely than healthy children to living in an extended family.

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Previous	nber w3847 The Optimal Two-Bracket Linear Income Tax /	nber w3848 Policy Uncertainty, Persistence and Growth /	nber w3849 World Interest Rates and Investment /	nber w3850 The Effects of Child Health on Marital Status /	nber w3851 Factor Shares and Savings in Endogenous Growth /	nber w3852 Halting Inflation in Italy and France After World War II /	nber w3853 The University in the Marketplace: Some Insights and Some Puzzles /	Next

September 1991.

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on the effect of child health on marital stability and family structure within an economic framework. We use the 1988 National Health Interview Survey's Child Health Supplement, with a sample of about 9,000 families to test whether having an unhealthy child decreases the mother's chance of being married, and whether it increases her chance of living in an extended family. Using two different measures of child health, we find that having an unhealthy child does decrease the mother's likelihood of being married. Our results are strongest for white women who were married at the time of the child's birth and for black women who were unmarried at that time. These results imply that children in poor health will, more likely, face obstacles beyond their illness, since they will also be more likely to suffer consequences of poverty and poor schooling outcomes which results when raised in a female headed household. The only mitigating factor is that, for white children, they will be more likely than healthy children to living in an extended family.