Family Structure and Child Health, a Comparison of France and the U.K.

Lidia Panico, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

A large body of literature has shown marked differences in the average level of resources and of child well-being across different family structures. Family structure may have a more detrimental effect on child health if in combination with other hardships, such as poverty. Furthermore, the relationship between family structure and outcomes for children or parents has been less studied in a comparative manner, even though family policies differ significantly across developed countries. In this paper, we consider whether family structure works in combination with socio-economic status to produce health inequalities in postnatal outcomes in the UK and France. Using the British Millennium Cohort Study the French Etude Longitudinale Francaise depuis l’Enfance (Elfe), we characterise differences in birth weight and low birth weight across family structures and explore whether family structure works in combination with socio-economic status to produce health inequalities in postnatal outcomes.