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Inequality & Child Wellbeing: from Macro to Micro

This research explores the effects of income inequality on child wellbeing, revealing disparities within and between societies. Discover how inequality influences health, education, social mobility, and conflicts among children.

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Inequality & Child Wellbeing: from Macro to Micro

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  1. Inequality & Child Wellbeing: from Macro to Micro Kate Pickett & Richard Wilkinson Department of Health Sciences, University of York

  2. Income per head and life-expectancy: rich & poor countries www.equalitytrust.org.uk Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  3. Most deprived www.equalitytrust.org.uk Health is related to income differences within rich societies but not to those between them Between (rich) societies Within societies Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  4. The UNICEF Index of Child Well-being, 2007

  5. www.equalitytrust.org.uk Child-Wellbeing is Unrelated to Average Incomes in Rich Countries Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  6. www.equalitytrust.org.uk Child Well-being is Better in More Equal Rich Countries Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  7. www.equalitytrust.org.uk How much richer are the richest 20% than the poorest 20%? Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  8. Child wellbeing and income inequality in US States

  9. www.equalitytrust.org.uk Infant Mortality Rates are Higher in More Unequal Countries Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  10. More children are overweight in more unequal countries Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  11. More children are overweight in more unequal US states Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  12. www.equalitytrust.org.uk Educational Scores are Higher in More Equal Rich Countries Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  13. www.equalitytrust.org.uk More Children Drop Out of High School in More Unequal US States Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  14. www.equalitytrust.org.uk Teenage Birth Rates are Higher in More Unequal Rich Countries Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  15. www.equalitytrust.org.uk Teen Pregnancy Rates are Higher in More Unequal US States Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  16. www.equalitytrust.org.uk Children Experience More Conflict in More Unequal Societies 11, 13 & 15 yr olds fighting, bullying, and finding peers not kind & helpful Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  17. www.equalitytrust.org.uk Social Mobility is Higher in More Equal Rich Countries Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  18. Income inequality and school bullying by 11-year-olds in 37 countries (r = .62) Source: Frank Elgar, in press

  19. In rich countries Infant mortality Low birth weight Overweight Educational achievement Peer relations Bullying Teenage births Social mobility In US states Infant mortality Low birth weight Overweight Educational achievement Mental health problems Teenage pregnancy Juvenile homicides Child outcomes related to income inequality

  20. Surprises • “Low aspirations” are more common in more equal societies • But educational achievement is higher…. • “Feeling lonely” is more common in more equal societies • But child conflict and peer relationships are better….

  21. www.equalitytrust.org.uk Infant mortality rates by social class Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

  22. A UK Index of Child Well-being

  23. Inequalities become entrenched early in life Cognitive scores at 3 years of age (MCS) Children with the most educated parents 12 months ahead of those with the least educated parents Children in families with incomes below our poverty line had scores about 8 months behind those with incomes above it White children about half a month ahead of the all-UK average, followed by children from a mixed ethnic background, about half a month behind Bangladeshi and Pakistani children lowest vocabulary scores, with averages around 35, characteristic of the lowest tenth in the population at large http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk

  24. Why are children so sensitive to inequality? • Effects of relative poverty on material resources? • Impact on family life and relationships? • Direct awareness of increased status differentiation?

  25. Inequality affects family life & relationships Income inequality is associated with: Longer working hours Divorce rates (US counties) Shorter parental leave Adult mental health & drug use Source: Bowles S, Park Y. Economic Journal 2005; 115 (507): F397–F412. 2005.

  26. A two stage process: parental experiences of inequality shape child development • Parenting styles prepare children for the kind of social relations they may have to deal with in adulthood • Preparation for a society dependent on:- • trust, cooperation, reciprocity, empathy? • or: • fending for yourself, not trusting others?

  27. A mother who goaded her two toddlers to fight each other on video camera has received a 12-month suspended sentence, along with her mother and two sisters. Zara Olver, 21, her 48-year-old mother Carole, and sisters Serenza Olver, 29, and Danielle Olver, 19, all admitted child cruelty at Plymouth Crown Court. In the footage, a boy in a nappy was called a "wimp" for not hitting his sister back after she struck him. The women laughed as the children hit each other with brushes and magazines. But the footage was found by chance by the toddlers' father, on leave from the army, and he told social services. The boy, aged two, is seen crying after being punched in the face by his three-year-old sister and is told by one of the four women in the room "not to be a wimp or a faggot" and to hit the girl back. The court heard that, when interviewed by police, Carole Olver said: "I didn't see any harm in toughening them up - I done the same with my own children."

  28. Status differentiation has a direct effect on cognitive performance The Effect of Caste Identity on Children's Performance Number of mazes solved Caste Unannounced Caste Announced Source: Hoff K, Pandey P, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3351, June 2004

  29. What can be done? …cont • At the local level it is about people feeling valued – in all contexts: • school, • work, • family, • among friends • Early childhood: support for least well-off families • The social environment in schools

  30. Outcomes of a home-visiting intervention Olds et al. Pediatrics 2002;110;486-496

  31. Rising gap between rich and poor, relative to 1975 Thatcher Major Blair Trends in income inequality 1979-2005/6 Adapted from: Brewer M, Goodman A, Muriel A, Sibieta L. Poverty and Inequality in the UK: 2007. Institute of Fiscal Studies, London.

  32. http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk

  33. Living in social groupsincreased “happy” brain chemicals in dominant monkeys but producedno change in subordinate monkeys. These neurobiological changes had an important behaviouralinfluence When given access to cocaine, dominant monkeys took less than subordinates Social status affect brain chemistry and behaviour in monkeys Source: Morgan, D et al. Nature Neuroscience 2002; 5(2), 169-174.

  34. Smoking in pregnancy in the Millennium Cohort percent Pickett KE, Wilkinson RG, Wakshlag LS. Forthcoming.

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