Edward Berchick - Change and stability in the association between mother’s education and subjective child health across 1965-2014 birth cohorts

Research on the maternal education gradient in child health generally views the strength of the gradient as fixed across the twentieth century. However, secular trends in health and education might have narrowed the education gradient across birth cohorts, whereas advantaged families’ engagement in a “reproduction project” marked by increased child-focused resource allocation might have offset these gains. Given these competing possibilities, I use data from children born between 1965 and 2014 to examine cohort trends in the association between maternal schooling and subjective child health. Overall, I find substantial decreases in the total education gradient and, due to countervailing forces, relative stability in paths mediated by more educated mothers’ higher incomes and location within more favorable family structures. These analyses highlight the ways in which broader social patterns shape children’s outcomes that have implications for inequality across the life course. #4827