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Child health in the United States: Recent trends in racial/ethnic disparities

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  • Mehta, Neil K.
  • Lee, Hedwig
  • Ylitalo, Kelly R.

Abstract

In the United States, race and ethnicity are considered key social determinants of health because of their enduring association with social and economic opportunities and resources. An important policy and research concern is whether the U.S. is making progress toward reducing racial/ethnic inequalities in health. While race/ethnic disparities in infant and adult outcomes are well documented, less is known about patterns and trends by race/ethnicity among children. Our objective was to determine the patterns of and progress toward reducing racial/ethnic disparities in child health. Using nationally representative data from 1998 to 2009, we assessed 17 indicators of child health, including overall health status, disability, measures of specific illnesses, and indicators of the social and economic consequences of illnesses. We examined disparities across five race/ethnic groups (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, non-Hispanic Asian, and non-Hispanic other). We found important racial/ethnic disparities across nearly all of the indicators of health we examined, adjusting for socioeconomic status, nativity, and access to health care. Importantly, we found little evidence that racial/ethnic disparities in child health have changed over time. In fact, for certain illnesses such as asthma, black–white disparities grew significantly larger over time. In general, black children had the highest reported prevalence across the health indicators and Asian children had the lowest reported prevalence. Hispanic children tended to be more similar to whites compared to the other race/ethnic groups, but there was considerable variability in their relative standing.

Suggested Citation

  • Mehta, Neil K. & Lee, Hedwig & Ylitalo, Kelly R., 2013. "Child health in the United States: Recent trends in racial/ethnic disparities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 6-15.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:95:y:2013:i:c:p:6-15
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.09.011
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    4. Zeng, Di & You, Wen & Mills, Bradford & Alwang, Jeffrey & Royster, Michael & Anson-Dwamena, Rexford, 2015. "A closer look at the rural-urban health disparities: Insights from four major diseases in the Commonwealth of Virginia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 62-68.
    5. Tyrone C. Cheng & Celia C. Lo, 2022. "Testing the Multiple Disadvantage Model of Health with Ethnic Asian Children: A Secondary Data Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Colen, Cynthia G. & Ramey, David M., 2014. "Is breast truly best? Estimating the effects of breastfeeding on long-term child health and wellbeing in the United States using sibling comparisons," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 55-65.
    7. Scholaske, Laura & Brose, Annette & Spallek, Jacob & Entringer, Sonja, 2019. "Perceived discrimination and risk of preterm birth among Turkish immigrant women in Germany," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Carolyn A. Liebler & Sonya R. Porter & Leticia E. Fernandez & James M. Noon & Sharon R. Ennis, 2017. "America’s Churning Races: Race and Ethnicity Response Changes Between Census 2000 and the 2010 Census," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 259-284, February.
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