IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i14p4937-d382104.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Double Jeopardy in Contemporary China: Intersecting the Socioeconomic Gradient and Geographic Context on Early Childhood Development

Author

Listed:
  • Wangyang Li

    (School of Sociology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Minyi Li

    (Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Yongai Jin

    (School of Sociology and Population Studies, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China)

  • Shiqi Wang

    (Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Yi Zhang

    (Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

Abstract

Family socioeconomic status (SES) differences in early childhood development (ECD) are well documented, as are the neighborhood effects in early development outcomes. However, little is known about whether the SES gradient in ECD outcomes varies across geographic contexts by county-level variables in contemporary China. This study examines the effects of county-level socioeconomic background on inequalities in the developmental outcomes of young Chinese children. Individual-level child development data based on four early development milestones—taking a first step, first sentences, counting 10 objects, fully independent toileting—were combined with family- and county-level socioeconomic data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Using a hierarchical linear model (HLM) to examine how the broader socioeconomic context plays a role in the attainment of developmental milestones at expected times as young children grow and develop, we have found significant cross-level interaction effects between family SES and county-level variables in relation to developmental milestone attainment. The family SES gradient in the achievement of children’s developmental milestones is steeper for those in the under-developed regions than their counterparts in the more developed regions. Our findings suggest that low-SES children who are living in socioeconomically deprived regions suffer from a double disadvantage in terms of early development outcomes. Further research would be needed to contextualize the observed interactions and better explain the underlying mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • Wangyang Li & Minyi Li & Yongai Jin & Shiqi Wang & Yi Zhang, 2020. "Double Jeopardy in Contemporary China: Intersecting the Socioeconomic Gradient and Geographic Context on Early Childhood Development," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-24, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:14:p:4937-:d:382104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/14/4937/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/14/4937/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren, 2018. "The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility I: Childhood Exposure Effects," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(3), pages 1107-1162.
    2. Xiaogang Wu & Donald Treiman, 2004. "The household registration system and social stratification in China: 1955–1996," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(2), pages 363-384, May.
    3. Goldman, N. & Kimbro, R.T. & Turra, C.M. & Pebley, A.R., 2006. "Socioeconomic gradients in health for White and Mexican-origin populations," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(12), pages 2186-2193.
    4. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2017. "Measuring the Impacts of Teachers: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1685-1717, June.
    5. Dargent-Molina, Patricia & James, Sherman A. & Strogatz, David S. & Savitz, David A., 1994. "Association between maternal education and infant diarrhea in different household and community environments of Cebu, Philippines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 343-350, January.
    6. Fang, Pengqian & Dong, Siping & Xiao, Jingjing & Liu, Chaojie & Feng, Xianwei & Wang, Yiping, 2010. "Regional inequality in health and its determinants: Evidence from China," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 14-25, January.
    7. Mohammad Monirul Hasan & Jalal Uddin & Mohammad Habibullah Pulok & Nabila Zaman & Mohammad Hajizadeh, 2020. "Socioeconomic Inequalities in Child Malnutrition in Bangladesh: Do They Differ by Region?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-14, February.
    8. Narayan Sastry, 1996. "Community characteristics, individual and household attributes, and child survival in brazil," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 33(2), pages 211-229, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dongliang Yang & Shuxian Hu & Mingna Li, 2022. "The Influence of Family Socioeconomic Status on Adolescents’ Mental Health in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-16, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ghuman, Sharon & Behrman, Jere R & Borja, Judith B & Gultiano, Socorro & King, Elizabeth M, 2005. "Family Background, Service Providers, and Early Childhood Development in the Philippines: Proxies and Interactions," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(1), pages 129-164, October.
    2. Diane Coffey & Ashwini Deshpande & Jeffrey Hammer & Dean Spears, 2019. "Local Social Inequality, Economic Inequality, and Disparities in Child Height in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1427-1452, August.
    3. Hausman, Catherine & Stolper, Samuel, 2021. "Inequality, information failures, and air pollution," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    4. Francesco Andreoli & Eugenio Peluso, 2016. "So close yet so unequal: Reconsidering spatial inequality in U.S. cities," Working Papers 21/2016, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    5. Kelley Sarussi & Thomas Walstrum, 2019. "Education and the Evolution of Earnings Across Population Groups Since 2000," Profitwise, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue 5, pages 1-13.
    6. Bratu, Cristina & Bolotnyy, Valentin, 2023. "Immigrant intergenerational mobility: A focus on childhood environment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Kasim Allel & Gerard Abou Jaoude & Stavros Poupakis & Neha Batura & Jolene Skordis & Hassan Haghparast-Bidgoli, 2021. "Exploring the Associations between Early Childhood Development Outcomes and Ecological Country-Level Factors across Low- and Middle-Income Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-15, March.
    8. Michael Geruso & Timothy J. Layton & Jacob Wallace, 2023. "What Difference Does a Health Plan Make? Evidence from Random Plan Assignment in Medicaid," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 341-379, July.
    9. Alex Bell & Raj Chetty & Xavier Jaravel & Neviana Petkova & John Van Reenen, 2019. "Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 647-713.
    10. Peng Nie & Andrew E. Clarck & Conchita D'Ambrosio & Lanlin Ding, 2020. "Income-related health inequality in urban China (1991-2015): The role of homeownership and housing conditions," Working Papers 524, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    11. Francesco Agostinelli & Matthias Doepke & Giuseppe Sorrenti & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2020. "It Takes a Village: The Economics of Parenting with Neighborhood and Peer Effects," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2228, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    12. Chong Lu, 2022. "The effect of migration on rural residents’ intergenerational subjective social status mobility in China," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 3279-3308, October.
    13. Ahsan, Md Nazmul & Maharaj, Riddhi, 2018. "Parental human capital and child health at birth in India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 130-149.
    14. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Dahmann, Sarah C. & Salamanca, Nicolás & Zhu, Anna, 2022. "Intergenerational disadvantage: Learning about equal opportunity from social assistance receipt," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    15. John Gathergood & Fabian Gunzinger & Benedict Guttman-Kenney & Edika Quispe-Torreblanca & Neil Stewart, 2020. "Levelling Down and the COVID-19 Lockdowns: Uneven Regional Recovery in UK Consumer Spending," Papers 2012.09336, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2020.
    16. Dodin, Majed & Findeisen, Sebastian & Henkel, Lukas & Sachs, Dominik & Schüle, Paul, 2024. "Social mobility in Germany," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    17. Braxton, John Carter & Chikhale, Nisha & Herkenhoff, Kyle & Phillips, Gordon, 2024. "Intergenerational Mobility and Credit," IZA Discussion Papers 16826, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Finan, Frederico & Seira, Enrique & Simpser, Alberto, 2021. "Voting with one’s neighbors: Evidence from migration within Mexico," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    19. Kalra, Aarushi, 2021. "A 'Ghetto' of One's Own: Communal Violence, Residential Segregation and Group Education Outcomes in India," SocArXiv rzjct, Center for Open Science.
    20. Li, Shi & Whalley, John & Xing, Chunbing, 2014. "China's higher education expansion and unemployment of college graduates," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 567-582.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:14:p:4937-:d:382104. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.