Children’s education and parental old-age health: Evidence from a population-based, nationally representative study in India

Abstract

Previous research has documented intergenerational transmission of human capital from children to parents. Less is known, however, about heterogeneity in this 'upward transmission' in low-resource settings. We examine whether co-resident adult children's education is associated with improved health among older parents in India, using nationally representative data from the 2014 Indian National Sample Survey. Parents of children with tertiary education had a lower probability of reporting poor health than parents of children with less than primary education. The benefits of children's education persisted after controlling for economic factors, suggesting that non-pecuniary pathways-such as health knowledge or skills-may play an important role. The association was more pronounced among economically dependent parents and those living in the North and West regions. Taken together, our results point to a strong positive association between children's education and parental health, the role of non-pecuniary pathways, and the importance of subnational heterogeneity in India.

Offspring Education and Parents’ Health Inequality in China: Evidence from Spillovers of Education Reform

“…However, it is possible that the link runs in the opposite direction as well [ 18 ]. Although the positive impact of education on human health has been well established in the literature, the causal effect of offspring education on the health of the older population has only recently received attention [ 12 , 16 , 17 , 32 , 40 ]. Our study expanded on recent work assessing the relationship between offspring education and parents’ health inequality by providing causal evidence in China [ 17 ] in a number of important ways.…”

“…The burden of supporting the elderly falls more heavily on the one child. As a key component of intergenerational connections, changes in living arrangements may cause changes in the relationship between offspring education and parents’ health [ 32 ]. Thoma et al [ 32 ] found that in India, the education of children who live with their parents is significantly related to health improvements in the elderly.…”

“…As a key component of intergenerational connections, changes in living arrangements may cause changes in the relationship between offspring education and parents’ health [ 32 ]. Thoma et al [ 32 ] found that in India, the education of children who live with their parents is significantly related to health improvements in the elderly. It is more possible for well-educated offspring to live with parents and to have more frequent contact with their parents than with less education [ 29 ], which help the spillovers have an opportunity to work more effectively.…”

“…Research is also needed to identify the underlying mechanisms linking offspring education to parents’ health. These studies argue that investing in education can improve parents’ health by relaxing family budget constraints, optimizing the healthy behaviors of elderly people, and strengthening intergenerational non-economic links [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]. These effects are mainly due to improvements in offspring education, which can significantly increase the effect type, frequency, and extent of financial support that children can eventually provide for their parents [ 16 ].…”

Causal effect of children’s secondary education on parental health outcomes: findings from a natural experiment in Botswana

“…12 The extent to which this younger generation shares its increased resources with their parents, however, remains largely unknown. More than a dozen studies have reported a positive correlation between children’s human capital and parental health, including in China, 13 India 14 and South Africa. 15 Given the large number of potential factors (such as genetic traits) that may confound the relationship between children’s human capital and parental health, however, these correlations are difficult to interpret and are unlikely to identify causal effects of educational opportunities provided to children.…”