Maternal Education and Preventive Behaviour - Evidence from Zimbabwe´s Educational Reform
(2020) NEKP01 20201Department of Economics
- Abstract
- This paper aims to investigate the causal relationship between maternal education and preventive behaviour. For this purpose, I consider the education reform implemented in Zimbabwe in 1980 that enabled students at age 15 and below to participate in secondary education. By using this age
cutoff as an exogenous exposure to the education policy, I obtain causal estimates of schooling on health outcomes. My results suggest that women who were young enough to benefit from the reform had 1.9 years of additional education in comparison to those who were older than 15 years
in 1980. These benefits are larger for less wealthy women in rural areas. Furthermore, I find that children of better-educated mothers are more likely to have received... (More) - This paper aims to investigate the causal relationship between maternal education and preventive behaviour. For this purpose, I consider the education reform implemented in Zimbabwe in 1980 that enabled students at age 15 and below to participate in secondary education. By using this age
cutoff as an exogenous exposure to the education policy, I obtain causal estimates of schooling on health outcomes. My results suggest that women who were young enough to benefit from the reform had 1.9 years of additional education in comparison to those who were older than 15 years
in 1980. These benefits are larger for less wealthy women in rural areas. Furthermore, I find that children of better-educated mothers are more likely to have received prenatal care provided by doctor, antenatal and postnatal checkups, been born by C-section in an institutional setting, have a health card, been provided vitamin A and all necessary vaccines, live in a household where there is a mosquito bednet and have slept under a bednet. Moreover, these children are also less likely to suffer from anthropometric failures such as stunting, wasting and underweight. By investigating potential mechanisms through which increased maternal education might influence preventive behaviour, I find that the mothers’ literacy rate, age at first cohabitation and some aspects of health-related knowledge are the most possible ones. I conclude that more educated mothers are more likely to contribute to improved health of their offspring. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9027387
- author
- Szalanczi, Adrienn LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NEKP01 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- education, health behaviour, prevention, Zimbabwe, fuzzy regression discontinuity
- language
- English
- id
- 9027387
- date added to LUP
- 2020-08-29 11:09:34
- date last changed
- 2020-08-29 11:09:34
@misc{9027387,
abstract = {{This paper aims to investigate the causal relationship between maternal education and preventive behaviour. For this purpose, I consider the education reform implemented in Zimbabwe in 1980 that enabled students at age 15 and below to participate in secondary education. By using this age
cutoff as an exogenous exposure to the education policy, I obtain causal estimates of schooling on health outcomes. My results suggest that women who were young enough to benefit from the reform had 1.9 years of additional education in comparison to those who were older than 15 years
in 1980. These benefits are larger for less wealthy women in rural areas. Furthermore, I find that children of better-educated mothers are more likely to have received prenatal care provided by doctor, antenatal and postnatal checkups, been born by C-section in an institutional setting, have a health card, been provided vitamin A and all necessary vaccines, live in a household where there is a mosquito bednet and have slept under a bednet. Moreover, these children are also less likely to suffer from anthropometric failures such as stunting, wasting and underweight. By investigating potential mechanisms through which increased maternal education might influence preventive behaviour, I find that the mothers’ literacy rate, age at first cohabitation and some aspects of health-related knowledge are the most possible ones. I conclude that more educated mothers are more likely to contribute to improved health of their offspring.}},
author = {{Szalanczi, Adrienn}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Maternal Education and Preventive Behaviour - Evidence from Zimbabwe´s Educational Reform}},
year = {{2020}},
}