Bastian Ravesteijn, assistant professor of applied economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Coen van de Kraats, a PhD student at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, examined, among other things, data on weight, language development, and social and psychological problems. This non-identifiable data on children born between 1998 and 2017 came from child health clinics and school doctors in four different regions.
The researchers linked figures from Statistics Netherlands on parents' income to the health data of young children. This shows that "children of the wealthiest parents score better in every respect than children of parents with the lowest incomes." According to the researchers, learning difficulties and obesity, among other things, are characteristics of children growing up in disadvantaged environments.
The differences between rich and poor become visible at an early age. For example, four-month-old babies with poor parents are more likely to be overweight. Among 14-year-olds, a quarter of children from disadvantaged situations are overweight, compared with ten percent of those from more affluent households.
By monitoring young children's health from birth, the researchers hope to discover how an early disadvantage affects the course of a person's life. This knowledge may make it possible in the future to improve the prospects of children from such disadvantaged situations.
There are proven interventions, Ravesteijn says in an interview with NOS, but they are often not implemented. “The Netherlands has a unique youth healthcare system; nowhere is it as well developed as in the Netherlands. One problem is that every municipality wants to reinvent the wheel and therefore ignores programs that work. So you may be unlucky with the municipality where you live. There is certainly room for improvement there.”
Ravesteijn does not expect inequality of opportunity to disappear in this generation, as it is “as old as humanity.” “We cannot solve it yet, but we can understand it better. If you intervene early, it is possible to turn the situation around and ensure that these children also thrive, without being held back by their background.”
You can read the full article from De Volkskrant, dated 23 July 2021, here.
You can read the full article from NOS, dated 23 July 2021, here.
You can listen to an interview with Bastian Ravesteijn on NPO Radio 1 here.