There is mounting evidence that early childhood conditions may have long-term health consequences, reinforcing and sustaining disparities over the life course. Economic theories suggest that early investments in human capital (education) and health capital (such as prevention and health knowledge) should have lasting effects on health (and other) outcomes later in life. This possible link between early childhood investments in education and health and later health conditions and outcomes, if established, could help in explaining the remarkable extent and persistence of racial and socioeconomic disparities in health. The specific focus of the proposed research is the federally funded, early childhood education program, Head Start -- a comprehensive program designed to augment the human and health capital of disadvantaged children to better prepare them for subsequent educational experiences.
The specific aim of the research is to evaluate the impact of early childhood participation in Head Start on subsequent health in the early adult years. A new source of secondary data, funded in part by the NIA, makes this analysis possible. A 1999 supplement to the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics provides an extensive battery of health-related information on panel participants, which then can be linked across time to other information including participation in Head Start. This research will evaluate the impact of Head Start on long-term health by estimating the effects of Head Start participation on an indicator of general health status, specific health risks and conditions, important health behaviors and health knowledge. Well-established estimation procedures to control for observable and unobservable factors will be employed. In particular, unobserved household characteristics that may influence the participation decision will be controlled for by comparing the health outcomes of persons who attended Head Start with siblings who did not. We estimate direct and indirect effects through education of Head Start on these health indicators. The proposed research will lead to a clearer understanding of the pathways through which early childhood conditions affect later health. It will contribute to the collective understanding of the origins of health disparities, and it evaluates a federal program that has the potential to reduce these disparities.
