Inequality & Child Wellbeing: from Macro to Micro

Inequality & Child Wellbeing:

from Macro to Micro

Kate Pickett

&

Richard Wilkinson

Department of Health Sciences, University of York

Income per head and life-expectancy: rich & poor countries

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Health is related to income differences within rich societies but not to those between them

Within societiesBetween (rich) societies

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

Electoral wards in England & Wales ranked by deprivation score

Life

exp

ecta

ncy

(yea

rs)

Mostdeprived

www.equalitytrust.org.uk

The UNICEF Index of Child Well-being, 2007

Child-Wellbeing is Unrelated to Average Incomes in Rich Countries

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Child Well-being is Better in More Equal Rich Countries

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk

How much richer are the richest 20% than the poorest 20%?

www.equalitytrust.org.ukSource: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

Child wellbeing and income inequality in US States

Correlations and p-values Income inequality Average income

Foundation for Child Development 25-item index 0.43

(0.002)

-0.61

(<0.001)

Kids Count 10-item index (shown in graph) 0.51

(<0.001)

-0.53

(<0.001)

Infant Mortality Rates are Higher in More Unequal Countries

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk

More children are overweight in more unequal countries

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

More children are overweight in more unequal US states

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

Educational Scores are Higher in More Equal Rich Countries

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk

More Children Drop Out of High School in More Unequal US States

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Teenage Birth Rates are Higher in More Unequal Rich Countries

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Teen Pregnancy Rates are Higher in More Unequal US States

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Children Experience More Conflict in More Unequal Societies

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)

11, 13 & 15 yr olds fighting, bullying, and finding peers not kind & helpful

www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Social Mobility is Higher in More Equal Rich Countries

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Source: Frank Elgar, in press

Income inequality and school bullying by 11-year-olds in 37 countries (r = .62)

Child outcomes related to income inequality

• In rich countries– Infant mortality– Low birth weight– Overweight– Educational

achievement– Peer relations– Bullying– Teenage births– Social mobility

• In US states– Infant mortality– Low birth weight– Overweight– Educational

achievement– Mental health

problems– Teenage pregnancy– Juvenile homicides

Surprises

• “Low aspirations” are more common in more equal societies– But educational achievement is higher….

• “Feeling lonely” is more common in more equal societies– But child conflict and peer relationships are

better….

Literacy Scores of 16-25 year olds by Parents' Education

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Parents' Education (years)

Lit

erac

y sc

ore

Sweden

Canada

United States

Source: Willms JD. 1997. Data from OECD Programme for International Student Assessment.

0

5

10

15

Singlemothers

Low HighFather's social class

Infa

nt

de

ath

s p

er

10

00 England & Wales Sweden

0

5

10

15

Singlemothers

Low HighFather's social class

Infa

nt

de

ath

s p

er

10

00 England & Wales Sweden

Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Infant mortality rates by social class

A UK Index of Child Well-beingTable 2: 20 Local authority districts with the lowest and highest average score on child well-being

Lowest well-being Highest well-being

354 Manchester 1 Hart

353 Tower Hamlets 2 Ribble Valley

352 Liverpool 3 Mid Sussex

351 Islington 4 East Hertfordshire

350 Hackney 5 Rutland

349 Kingston upon Hull, City of 6 Waverley

348 Southwark 7 Wokingham

347 Birmingham 8 South Northamptonshire

346 Nottingham 9 Surrey Heath

345 Middlesbrough 10 Horsham

344 Lambeth 11 Chiltern

343 Leicester 12 Elmbridge

342 Newcastle upon Tyne 13 Mid Bedfordshire

341 Haringey 14 South Cambridgeshire

340 Sandwell 15 West Oxfordshire

339 Knowsley 16 St Albans

338 Barking and Dagenham 17 Fareham

337 Lewisham 18 Congleton

336 Newham 19 Rushcliffe

335 Bradford 20 Uttlesford

Inequalities become entrenched early in life

• Cognitive scores at 3 years of age (MCS)

• Children with the most educated parents 12 months ahead of those with the least educated parents

• Children in families with incomes below our poverty line had scores

about 8 months behind those with incomes above it

• White children about half a month ahead of the all-UK average, followed by children from a mixed ethnic background, about half a month behind

• Bangladeshi and Pakistani children lowest vocabulary scores, with averages around 35, characteristic of the lowest tenth in the population at large

http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk

Why are children so sensitive to inequality?

• Effects of relative poverty on material resources?

• Impact on family life and relationships?

• Direct awareness of increased status differentiation?

Inequality affects family life & relationships

Source: Bowles S, Park Y. Economic Journal 2005; 115 (507): F397–F412. 2005.

• Income inequality is associated with:– Longer working hours– Divorce rates (US

counties)– Shorter parental leave– Adult mental health &

drug use

A two stage process: parental experiences of inequality shape child development

Parenting styles prepare children for the kind of social relations they may have to deal with in adulthood

Preparation for a society dependent on:- • trust, cooperation, reciprocity, empathy?

or:• fending for yourself, not trusting others?

A mother who goaded her two toddlers to fight each other on video camera has received a 12-month suspended sentence, along with her mother and two sisters.

Zara Olver, 21, her 48-year-old mother Carole, and sisters Serenza Olver, 29, and Danielle Olver, 19, all admitted child cruelty at Plymouth Crown Court.

In the footage, a boy in a nappy was called a "wimp" for not hitting his sister back after she struck him.

The women laughed as the children hit each other with brushes and magazines.

But the footage was found by chance by the toddlers' father, on leave from the army, and he told social services.

The boy, aged two, is seen crying after being punched in the face by his three-year-old sister and is told by one of the four women in the room "not to be a wimp or a faggot" and to hit the girl back.

The court heard that, when interviewed by police, Carole Olver said: "I didn't see any harm in toughening them up - I done the same with my own children."

The Effect of Caste Identity on Children's Performance

Caste Unannounced

Caste Announced

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

High Caste

Low Caste

Num

ber

of m

azes

sol

ved

Source: Hoff K, Pandey P, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3351, June 2004

Status differentiation has a direct effect on cognitive performance

What can be done? …cont

At the local level it is about people feeling valued – in all contexts:

• school, • work, • family, • among friends

Early childhood: support for least well-off families

The social environment in schools

Outcomes of a home-visiting intervention

Olds et al. Pediatrics 2002;110;486-496

Trends in income inequality 1979-2005/6

Adapted from: Brewer M, Goodman A, Muriel A, Sibieta L. Poverty and Inequality in the UK: 2007. Institute of Fiscal

Studies, London.

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

Thatcher Major Blair

Ris

ing

ga

p b

etw

ee

n r

ich

an

d p

oo

r, r

ela

tiv

e t

o 1

97

5

http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Social status affect brain chemistry and behaviour in monkeys

• Living in social groupsincreased “happy” brain chemicals in dominant monkeys but producedno change in subordinate monkeys.

• These neurobiological changes had an important behaviouralinfluence

• When given access to cocaine, dominant monkeys took less than subordinates

Source: Morgan, D et al. Nature Neuroscience 2002; 5(2), 169-174.

Pickett KE, Wilkinson RG, Wakshlag LS. Forthcoming.

Smoking in pregnancy in the Millennium Cohort

percent