The evolution of health outcomes from childhood to adolescence

Using data from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), this study examines how and why health outcomes exhibit persistence during the period from childhood to adolescence. We examine the distribution of health outcomes and health transitions using descriptive analysis and explore the determinants of these distributions by estimating the contributions of family SES, unobserved heterogeneity and state dependence and also allowing for heterogeneity of state dependence parameters across categories of neighborhood status. Our analysis indicates that children living in poorer neighborhoods, in neighborhoods with lower education levels and in neighborhoods with more families headed by lone-parents tend to experience poor health status for longer after a transition to it. while children tend to experience multiple health drops living in poorer neighborhoods, in neighborhoods with less educated people, in neighborhoods with more families headed by lone-parents and in neighborhoods with more families living in rental accommodation. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.