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Child wellbeing and income inequality in rich societies: ecological cross sectional study
Author(s) -
Reading Richard
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2008.00831_4.x
Subject(s) - poverty , ecological study , economic inequality , inequality , population , demography , overweight , child poverty , social inequality , mental health , geography , economics , socioeconomics , demographic economics , medicine , economic growth , body mass index , sociology , psychiatry , mathematical analysis , mathematics , pathology
Child wellbeing and income inequality in rich societies: ecological cross sectional study.
Pickett K.E. & Wilkinson R.G.(2007)British Medical Journal,335,1080–1085.DOI: 10.1136/bmj.39377.580162.55.Objectives To examine associations between child well‐being and material living standards (average income), the scale of differentiation in social status (income inequality), and social exclusion (children in relative poverty) in rich developed societies. Design Ecological, cross‐sectional studies. Setting Cross‐national comparisons of 23 rich countries; cross‐state comparisons within the USA. Population Children and young people. Main outcome measures The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund index of child well‐being and its components for rich countries; eight comparable measures for the US states and District of Columbia (teenage births, juvenile homicides, infant mortality, low birth weight, educational performance, dropping out of high school, overweight, mental health problems). Results The overall index of child well‐being was negatively correlated with income inequality ( r = −0.64, P = 0.001) and percentage of children in relative poverty ( r = −0.67, P = 0.001) but not with average income ( r = 0.15, P = 0.50). Many more indicators of child well‐being were associated with income inequality or children in relative poverty, or both, than with average incomes. Among the US states and District of Columbia all indicators were significantly worse in more unequal states. Only teenage birth rates and the proportion of children dropping out of high school were lower in richer states. Conclusions Improvements in child well‐being in rich societies may depend more on reductions in inequality than on further economic growth.