Cross-national variation in family influences on child health.
Drawing on the family process literature, child health models, and recent studies of macro-level effects on health, we examine the effects of household structure, resources, care-giving, reproduction, and communication on child nutritional status and infant mortality. Using Demographic and Health Surveys, we analyze the influence of these factors across 42 countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. We also consider country-level including nontraditional family structure, level of economic development and expenditures on health care. Our results underscore the importance of family resources, decision-making, and health and feeding practices on child well-being in less developed countries. Although there is cross-national variability, the size of the variability was small relative to the overall effect. The country-level measures had modest effects on infant mortality and child nutritional status.
Department of Sociology, Family Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 380C SWKT, Provo, UT 84602, USA. tim_heaton@byu.edu
Tim B
TB
Heaton
Renata
R
Forste
John P
JP
Hoffmann
Dallan
D
Flake
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002668:Child Rearing / Q000639:trends; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005191:Family Characteristics / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D008297:Male; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data