Parental Education Matters for Adolescent Health: The Importance of Parental Education in the US

Abstract: Parents, not doctors, are the primary gatekeepers of their children's health. Parental behavior plays an important role in child health during the prenatal and childhood (post-natal) periods. This paper investigates the association between parental schooling on the one hand, and adolescent health outcomes (height and weight) and general health status (missing school days due to illness/injuries and number of times in ER/ED) on the other. Using recent data from National Health Interview Studies (NHIS) from 2010 to 2011, I aim to understand the mechanisms through which parental schooling affects adolescent health. The results show that parental education has a significant effect on children health status as expected. Notable findings of this paper include the followings: the effects of the paternal education level on adolescent health are much more significant than the effects of mother's; and parental educational partly affects adolescent health indirectly through the influence on income, employment, family structure, and insurance enrollment.