Determinants of Child Health Outcomes: A Cross Sectional Study of US Households

Abstract

Using household level data from the national Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) 2003, the effects of socioeconomic, family, child and neighborhood characteristics on child health outcomes in the US are examined in this study. The child health outcomes studied here are overall health status of the child, parent’s concern for child’s behavior, socio-emotional difficulties faced by the child, incidence of asthma, ADD/ADHD and learning disability. Income of the child’s household, age of the child and the gender are significant determinants of the health outcomes. Most of the child and family characteristics are also important predictors.