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Unplanned pregnancy and the impact on sibling health outcomes

Lordan, Grace and Frijters, Paul (2013) Unplanned pregnancy and the impact on sibling health outcomes. Health Economics, 22 (8). pp. 903-914. ISSN 1057-9230

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Identification Number: 10.1002/hec.2866

Abstract

This work considers whether planning matters with respect to the effect of a new sibling on another siblings' health. Objective health outcomes are observed before and after a new addition to the family. To date, the literature on family size has focused on a quality-quantity trade-off; the more children in a family, the less resources devoted to each child. We present a theoretical framework which highlights that the quantity-quality trade-off may only be relevant in the case of an unplanned sibling. We also suggest that a planned sibling may result in health gains for the other children. We use two waves of data for more than 1800 children from Peru from the Young Lives Project to test our hypothesis. The data relate to the children at 1 and 5years. For health outcomes, height for age and weight for age Z are considered. The results highlight significant negative independent effects on height for age when an unplanned sibling is added to the household. In addition, we find positive sibling effects on height for age when a planned sibling arrives. We find only small planning effects for weight for age. We view our hypothesis as a pathway that can further explain the quantity-quality trade-off.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/%28...
Additional Information: © 2012 John Wiley & Sons
Divisions: Social Policy
LSE Health
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
JEL classification: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I12 - Health Production: Nutrition, Mortality, Morbidity, Suicide, Substance Abuse and Addiction, Disability, and Economic Behavior
Date Deposited: 11 Sep 2012 08:52
Last Modified: 20 Nov 2024 21:12
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/45766

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