After visiting Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) for a global workforce panel, the work of Dr. Douglas Vanderbilt plagued my mind. Dr. Vanderbilt is a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician, who uses the everyday community around him as probable cause in diagnosing his patients. Furthermore, he utilizes the idea that environmental and physical events in life can have an adverse affect on child health. After some research I came to find that the latter is true, and one of the biggest factors that can plague childhood health is socioeconomic status (SES). SES can often affect disease or mortality rates in children through a range of underlying mechanisms, included but not limited to; education, income, and occupation. Children with low SES are more likely to have poorer health behaviors and to suffer from chronic impairments (Chen, E., Martin, A. D, et al., 2006). Socioeconomic status affects children in many ways, including development across life span, psychological health and physical health ("Children, Youth, Families and Socioeconomic Status”).
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Firstly, education can shape the well being of the child and the parents in these situations. For one, parents with higher education levels are more likely to have access to knowledge that allows for them to readily obtain information and resources that promote healthy living, for themselves and their children (And, 2002). While national high school dropout rates have steadily declined, dropout rates for children living in poverty have steadily increased (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002). Between 60 and 70 percent of students in low-income school districts fail to graduate from high school (Harris, 2005). Education is the key to health inequality, as it influences income and occupation for many
Firstly, education can shape the well being of the child and the parents in these situations. For one, parents with higher education levels are more likely to have access to knowledge that allows for them to readily obtain information and resources that promote healthy living, for themselves and their children (And, 2002). While national high school dropout rates have steadily declined, dropout rates for children living in poverty have steadily increased (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002). Between 60 and 70 percent of students in low-income school districts fail to graduate from high school (Harris, 2005). Education is the key to health inequality, as it influences income and occupation for many