Status socioeconômico, características maternas e saúde da criança no Brasil

Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is to evaluate the impact of family income and some maternal features, as age, level of education, health, depression and smoking habits, on child health in Brazil. Based on data from PNAD-2008, a Poisson model was estimated for three child health measurements, one from subjective nature and two objective ones. The subject part constitutes the self-reported child health status. While the objective analyzed characteristics are if she had restrictions on their usual activities due to health problems or had any plant lodging episode in the 15 days preceding the survey. The obtained results indicate to a gradient in children's health, also observed in the literature. However, there is no clear evidence that the gradient increase with age, income has a pronounced influence in early childhood. Related to the maternal characteristics, the results demonstrate that the health of the mother, the general condition or depression, is crucial to child's development. Depression usually causes adverse effects on child development and health, mainly in early childhood, a period in which the mother's sensitivity is more important, because of the limited child expression capability at this stage.