Do Family Policy Regimes Matter for Children's Well-Being?

Engster, Daniel; Stensöta, Helena Olofsdotter

doi:10.1093/sp/jxr006

Cited by 62 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Five studies use a health inequality perspective, examining inequalities by socioeconomic position/status, type of mother (lone vs. coupled), education and income. The studies have been classified according to main type of policy area: family [15,16,56-59], pensions [17,59-61], economic assistance and unemployment benefits [58,62,63] and access to health care [64-66]. Two articles cover several policy areas [58,59].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the role of welfare state characteristics for health and inequalities – an analytical review

2013

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BackgroundThe past decade has witnessed a growing body of research on welfare state characteristics and health inequalities but the picture is, despite this, inconsistent. We aim to review this research by focusing on theoretical and methodological differences between studies that at least in part may lead to these mixed findings.MethodsThree reviews and relevant bibliographies were manually explored in order to find studies for the review. Related articles were searched for in PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar. Database searches were done in PubMed and Web of Science. The search period was restricted to 2005-01-01 to 2013-02-28. Fifty-four studies met the inclusion criteria.ResultsThree main approaches to comparative welfare state research are identified; the Regime approach, the Institutional approach, and the Expenditure approach. The Regime approach is the most common and regardless of the empirical regime theory employed and the amendments made to these, results are diverse and contradictory. When stratifying studies according to other features, not much added clarity is achieved. The Institutional approach shows more consistent results; generous policies and benefits seem to be associated with health in a positive way for all people in a population, not only those who are directly affected or targeted. The Expenditure approach finds that social and health spending is associated with increased levels of health and smaller health inequalities in one way or another but the studies are few in numbers making it somewhat difficult to get coherent results.ConclusionsBased on earlier reviews and our results we suggest that future research should focus less on welfare regimes and health inequalities and more on a multitude of different types of studies, including larger analyses of social spending and social rights in various policy areas and how these are linked to health in different social strata. But, we also need more detailed evaluation of specific programmes or interventions, as well as more qualitative analyses of the experiences of different types of policies among the people and families that need to draw on the collective resources.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the role of welfare state characteristics for health and inequalities – an analytical review

2013

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“…The family is the most proximate social unit for children, and the effect on children’s well‐being of high degrees of family social capital has been established in numerous studies (1,2,13). The tax‐funded support that is available to all families in Sweden, such as child health services and parental education, continue to be a central health promotion strategy (22).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health outcomes among Swedish children: the role of social capital in the family, school and neighbourhood

Eriksson¹,

Hochwälder²,

Carlsund³

et al. 2012

Acta Paediatrica

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Social capital in the family, school and neighbourhood matters for children's health and well-being and the contributions from each context seem to be additive. Besides the family context, investments for improving child health should primarily be in the school, focusing on social relations and on creating safe and cohesive school environments. Neighbourhood social capital is also of importance and so must be taken into consideration when planning child health promotion interventions.

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“…The overall conclusion from a review was, for example, that having an engaged father benefits both psychological and physical aspects of health among children of both sexes [25]. It has also been found that generous parental leave policies associate with physical aspects of health such as increased birth weight, decreased premature birth, and decreased mortality among infants at the ecological level [36], that dual-earner regimes offering parental leave to both parents have lower levels of child poverty and child mortality [37], and that both maternity leave [38] and paternity leave [39] have positive effects on length of breastfeeding, and child mortality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Could gender equality in parental leave harm off-springs' mental health? a registry study of the Swedish parental/child cohort of 1988/89

Norström

Lindberg

Månsdotter

2012

Int J Equity Health

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IntroductionMental ill-health among children and young adults is a growing public health problem and research into causes involves consideration of family life and gender practice. This study aimed at exploring the association between parents' degree of gender equality in childcare and children's mental ill-health.MethodsThe population consisted of Swedish parents and their firstborn child in 1988-1989 (N = 118 595 family units) and the statistical method was multiple logistic regression. Gender equality of childcare was indicated by the division of parental leave (1988-1990), and child mental ill-health was indicated by outpatient mental care (2001-2006) and drug prescription (2005-2008), for anxiety and depression.ResultsThe overall finding was that boys with gender traditional parents (mother dominance in childcare) have lower risk of depression measured by outpatient mental care than boys with gender-equal parents, while girls with gender traditional and gender untraditional parents (father dominance in childcare) have lower risk of anxiety measured by drug prescription than girls with gender-equal parents.ConclusionsThis study suggests that unequal parenting regarding early childcare, whether traditional or untraditional, is more beneficial for offspring's mental health than equal parenting. However, further research is required to confirm our findings and to explore the pathways through which increased gender equality may influence child health.

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Do Family Policy Regimes Matter for Children's Well-Being?

Cited by 62 publications

References 46 publications

Understanding the role of welfare state characteristics for health and inequalities – an analytical review

Understanding the role of welfare state characteristics for health and inequalities – an analytical review

Health outcomes among Swedish children: the role of social capital in the family, school and neighbourhood

Could gender equality in parental leave harm off-springs' mental health? a registry study of the Swedish parental/child cohort of 1988/89

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