RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Child Health and Young Adult Outcomes
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 517
OP 548
DO 10.3368/jhr.45.3.517
VO 45
IS 3
A1 Currie, Janet
A1 Stabile, Mark
A1 Manivong, Phongsack
A1 Roos, Leslie L.
YR 2010
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/45/3/517.abstract
AB Research has shown a strong connection between birth weight and future outcomes. We ask how health problems after birth affect outcomes using data from public health insurance records for 50,000 children born between 1979 and 1987 in the Canadian province of Manitoba. We compare children to siblings born an average of three years apart. We find that health problems in early childhood are significant predictors of young adult outcomes. Early physical health problems are linked to outcomes primarily because they predict later health. Early mental health problems have additional predictive power even conditional on future health and health at birth.