Health and Socioeconomic Status

In this blog we have discussed that the socioeconomic status alone is not responsible for the achievement gap. However it is the other factors that are responsible for the achievement gap. Currie and Goodman (2006)specifically look at the health issues caused by a low socioeconomic status which then correlates to future outcomes, namely education. They found that low socioeconomic status creates more negative health events, which in turn leads to lower attendance and lower academic achievment. They noticed that even in utero low socioeconomic status affected health. This makes a lot of sense to me. I am grateful to have good insurance that covers wellnes visits 100%. I remember when my son was born I was frustrated that I had to take him to the doctor so much at the beginning. I didn't understand why and it just seemed silly. He seemed healthy to me. He was losing a lot of weight and sleeping a lot, but what could a doctor tell me besides to feed him more. I did take him to his wellness checks and discovered he had jaundice. He was admitted to the hospital to ensure that his billirubens did not get so high they damaged his brain. If I didn't go to his wellness visits his jaundice would not have been treated, damaging his brain cells and in the end lower his academic achievments. My visits were 100% covered by insurance and I did not want to go to the doctor. I can only imagine if I had to pay to take him to the doctor. We probably wouldn't have gone. Currie, J., & Goodman, J. (2006). Parental socioeconomic status, child health, and human capital. Retrieved from http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/jgoodma1/papers/seshealthed.pdf