Wong Pui-ying. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-62). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.3 / Chapter 2.1 --- Income and Nutrition --- p.3 / Chapter 2.2 --- Determinants of Child Health --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Income --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Parental Education --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Other Determinants --- p.8 / Chapter 3 --- "Empirical Model, Data and Variables" --- p.11 / Chapter 3.1 --- Empirical Model --- p.11 / Chapter 3.2 --- Data --- p.13 / Chapter 3.3 --- Variables --- p.14 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Dependent Variables for Child Nutrition --- p.14 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Dependent Variables for Child Health --- p.15 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Independent Variables --- p.18 / Chapter 4 --- Empirical Results --- p.20 / Chapter 4.1 --- Determinants of Child Nutrition --- p.20 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- The Income Effect --- p.20 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Non-linear Effect of Income --- p.21 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Parental Education --- p.21 / Chapter 4.1.4 --- Permanent Income --- p.22 / Chapter 4.1.5 --- Difference between Rural and Urban Areas --- p.23 / Chapter 4.2 --- Determinants of Child Health --- p.23 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- The Income Effect --- p.23 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Non-linear Effect of Income --- p.25 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Parental Education --- p.25 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- Permanent Income --- p.26 / Chapter 4.1.5 --- Difference between Rural and Urban Areas --- p.27 / Chapter 4.2.5 --- Other Variables --- p.28 / Chapter A. --- "Parental Heights, Weights and Health Status" --- p.28 / Chapter B. --- Water and Sanitation --- p.29 / Chapter C. --- Insurance --- p.30 / Chapter D. --- Parental Health-Related Behaviors --- p.31 / Chapter 5 --- Conclusion --- p.33 / Tables --- p.34 / References --- p.59

Woo Yan-yin. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-63). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.iii / Table of Contents --- p.iv / List of Tables --- p.v / List of Appendices --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review / Chapter 2.1 --- The Determinants of Child Health --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Determinants of Child Educational Achievement --- p.9 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Empirical Strategy / Chapter 3.1 --- Model of Child Health --- p.15 / Chapter 3.2 --- Model of Child Educational Achievement --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Data --- p.23 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Empirical Results for the Determinants of Child Health / Chapter 5.1 --- OLS Regressions --- p.26 / Chapter 5.2 --- Conclusion --- p.30 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Empirical Results for the Determinants of Child Educational Achievement / Chapter 6.1 --- OLS Regressions --- p.32 / Chapter 6.2 --- 2SLS Regressions --- p.35 / Chapter 6.3 --- Robustness Checks --- p.38 / Chapter 6.4 --- Conclusion --- p.42 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Conclusion --- p.42 / Tables --- p.44 / Appendices --- p.58 / References --- p.61

Thesis (M.S.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1944.

Thesis (M.S.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1944.

Children in low-income and ethnic minority families are more likely to be in poor health, which may impact physical and economic well-being in adulthood. This study explored how maternal depression and parenting efficacy were associated with child health outcomes in a sample of low-income African American and Latino families. Results demonstrated that children in optimal health were more likely to have mothers with high parenting efficacy and fewer depressive symptoms. Differences between African American and Latino families illustrated the importance of considering both socioeconomic and racial and ethnic disparities in child health simultaneously. Parent characteristics may be opportune targets for addressing child health disparities, and future research should focus on understanding these associations and identifying parent behaviors associated with child health.

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The first essay studies how early health shocks affect the child's human capital formation. We first formulate a theoretical model to understand how early health shocks affect child outcomes through parental responses. We nest a dynamic model of human capability formation into a standard intrahousehold resource allocation framework. By introducing the multidimensionality of child endowments, we allow parents to compensate and reinforce along different dimensions. We then test our main empirical predictions using a Chinese child twins survey, which contains detailed information on child- and parent-specific expenditures. We can differentiate between investments in money and investments in time. On the one hand, we find evidence of compensating investment in child health but of reinforcing investment in education. On the other hand, we find no change in the time spent with the child. We confirm that an early health insult negatively affects the child under several different domains, ranging from later health, to cognition, and then to personality. Our findings suggest caution in interpreting reduced-form estimates of the effects of early-life shocks. In the presence of asymmetric parental responses under different dimensions of the child's human capital, they cannot even be unambiguously interpreted as upper or lower bounds of the biological effects. / The second essay empirically estimates the effects of education on two dimensions of preference -- decision making under risk and uncertainty and decision making involving time. We conduct a number of incentivized choice experiments on Chinese adult twins to measure preference, and use a within-twin-pair fixed-effects estimator to sweep out unobservable family background effects. The estimation results show that a higher level of education tends to reduce the degree of risk aversion toward moderate prospects, moderate hazards, and longshot prospects. In terms of decision making anomalies under risk and uncertainty, university educated subjects exhibit significantly more Allais-type behavior compared to pre-high school subjects, while high school educated subjects also exhibit more ambiguity aversion as well as familiarity bias relative to pre-high school subjects. For decision making involving time, a higher level of education tends to reduce the degree of impatience, hyperbolic discounting, dread, and hopefulness. The experimental evidences suggest that people with a higher level of education tends to exhibit more "biased" preference in risk attitude and less "biased" preference regarding time. / This thesis consists of two essays on family behavior and human capital. / essay 1. Early health shocks, parental responses, and child outcome -- essay 2. Education and preferences: experimental evidences from Chinese adult twins. / Yi, Junjian. / Adviser: Junsen Zhang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-06, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-41; 82-88). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Objectives. To describe the sociodemographic differences among Mexican American children (first, second, and third generation), non-Hispanic black children, and non-Hispanic white children; to compare the health status and health care needs of Mexican American children (first, second, and third generation) with those of non-Hispanic black children and non-Hispanic white children; and to determine whether first-generation Mexican American children have poorer health care access and utilization than do non-Hispanic white children, after controlling for health insurance status and socioeconomic status. Methods. The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey was used to create a sample of 4372 Mexican American children (divided into 3 generational groups), 4138 non-Hispanic black children, and 4594 non-Hispanic white children, 2 months to 16 years of age. We compared parent/caregiver reports of health status and needs (perceived health of the child and reported illnesses), health care access (usual source of health care and specific provider), and health care utilization (contact with a physician within the past year, use of prescription medications, physician visit because of earache/infection, and hearing and vision screenings) for different subgroups within the sample. Results. More than two thirds of first-generation Mexican American children were poor and uninsured and had parents with low educational attainment. More than one fourth of first-generation children were perceived as having poor or fair health, despite experiencing similar or better rates of illnesses, compared with other children. Almost one half of first-generation Mexican American children had not seen a doctor in the past year, compared with one fourth or less for other groups. Health care needs among first-generation Mexican American children were lower, on the basis of reported illnesses, but perceived health status was worse than for all other groups. After controlling for health insurance coverage and socioeconomic status, first-generation Mexican American children and non-Hispanic black children were less likely than non-Hispanic white children to have a usual source of care, to have a specific provider, or to have seen or talked with a physician in the past year. Conclusions. Of the 3 groups of children, Mexican American children had the least health care access and utilization, even after controlling for socioeconomic status and health insurance status. Our findings showed that Mexican American children had much lower levels of access and utilization than previously reported for Hispanic children on the whole. As a subgroup, first-generation Mexican American children fared substantially worse than second- or third-generation children. The discrepancy between poor perceived health status and lower rates of reported illnesses in the first-generation group leads to questions regarding generalized application of the “epidemiologic paradox.” Given the overall growth of the Hispanic population in the United States and the relative growth of individual immigrant subgroups, the identification of subgroups in need is essential for the development of effective research and policy. Furthermore, taking generational status into account is likely to be revealing with respect to disparities in access to and utilization of pediatric services.

Introduction: Recent reports in exercise related bone research have shown increased bone mineral content (BMC) at the femoral neck for prepubescent children participating in exercise programs consisting of repeated drop landings from a height of 61 cm. Increases in BMC from this type of exercise are believed to be the result of both high rate and magnitude of loading at the proximal femur. However, the dynamic characteristics associated with these landings in children have not been studied. Purpose: To describe the dynamic characteristics of children during landing and to quantify the forces associated with an activity associated with increases in bone mass. Methods: 13 prepubescent children (males=8, females=5, age 9.3 �� 0.7 years) who had previously completed drop landings over a 7 month period as part of an exercise intervention to increase bone mass participated in this research. Each subject performed 100 drop landings onto a force plate from a height of 61 cm. Ground reaction forces and two-dimensional kinematic data were recorded. Hip joint reaction forces were calculated using inverse dynamics based on a four segment rigid body model. Vertical ground reaction force and displacement data were fit to two single degree of freedom models, the Voigt and standard linear solid (SLS). The goodness of fit was quantified using the standard deviation of the error (SDE) between the experimental and the predicted data. Results: Peak vertical ground reaction forces were 8.5 �� 2.2 (mean �� SD) body weights (BW) while hip joint reactions were 6.0 �� 1.8 BW. Loading rates for ground reaction forces during initial impact were in excess of 470 BW/s. Across 100 jump trials, ground reaction forces changed significantly for 5 subjects (4 increase, 1 decrease, p<0.05) but were unchanged as a group. The SLS and Voigt models replicated the displacement traces well (SDE=0.003 m and 0.001 m respectively). However, in fitting force data, the SLS outperformed the Voigt model (SDE=580 N and 493 N respectively), but slightly under-predicted peak forces by 13%. Conclusion: Comparing force characteristics from drop landing to force characteristics known to be osteogenic, we can see how drop landings contribute to the osteogenic stimulus. The models used to represent children during drop landing closely fit displacement data, but did not replicate the time history of the impact force peaks thought to be important to osteogenesis. Quantification of exercises known to increase bone mass provides a basis on which to develop and implement additional exercise interventions for the purpose of increasing bone mass. / Graduation date: 2000

Graduation date: 2000