Intergenerational inequality and the educational consequences of health disparities

An increasing amount of research indicates that society is more rigid than was understood in intra- and inter-generational mobility (Bowles, Durlauf, & Hoff 2006; Bowles, Gintis, & Osborne 2005; Mazumder 2005). This research has been complemented with investigations that reveal the meaningful contribution that intergenerational social and economic inequality has on differences in academic achievement (Dixon-Román 2007; Grant 2005; Kalil, Patillo, & Payne 2004; Mandara, Greene, & Varner 2006; Miller 1995; Najman, Aird, Bor, O'Callaghan, Williams, and Shuttlewood 2004; Phillips, Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, Klebanov & Crane 1998). While helpful, no study to date has examined the effect of grandparents SES on disparities in child health and health care over and above the parents SES. In particular, does a familial social history of persistent poverty increase the likelihood of exposure to lead, sleep deprivation, low birth weight, malnutrition, poor immunization records, lack of access to health care and insurance, and parents with chronic illnesses and substance abuse problems? Moreover, to what extent do these health-related factors account for the race, gender, and class differences in the growth of math and reading achievement over and above the cumulative effect of familial social history? Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and an accelerated longitudinal design (McArdle & Bell, 2000; McArdle et. al. 2002), analyses are conducted using Bayesian multilevel growth curve models of math and reading achievement in order to examine the cumulative effects of intergenerational inequality on race, gender, and class differences in child health and, consequently, learning and development.