The last three decades has witnessed a dramatic increase in research aimed at
documenting socioeconomic inequalities in health and understanding the relationships
linking health and socioeconomic outcomes over the life course (Marmot 2004; Moore
and Hayward 1990; Williams 1990; Illsey 1986; Syme and Berkman 1976; Kitigawa and
Hauser 1973). Accordingly a small but growing body of research suggests a potentially
important role of early life health in shaping educational and socioeconomic attainments
in adulthood (Haas 2004; Conley and Bennett 2000; Pless, Power, and Peckham 1993;
Wadsworth 1986). In most respects these findings are consistent with a large and long
standing literature documenting the deleterious long-term developmental outcomes of
low birth weight and poor infant/child health. However, very little is known about the
factors linking poor childhood health and educational outcomes. This study seeks to
address this gap by investigating the cognitive and social mechanisms by which poor
health may influence the educational outcomes of adolescents.
II Early Life Health and Cognitive Development
One mechanism that may play an especially important role linking childhood health and
educational outcomes is cognitive and intellectual development. The importance of
cognitive ability to the stratification process generally and educational attainment in
particular is well documented (Sewell and Hauser 1975). The literature on the
relationship between early life health and cognitive development is simultaneously
voluminous and narrowly focused. For 100 years researchers have been investigating the
association and there is quite an extensive literature on the subject (See Hack, Klien, and
Taylor 1995 for a review). On the other hand this literature has tended to focus almost
exclusively on the neurocognitive consequences of birth outcomes (premature birth and
birth weight).
Convention