Food for Thought: Poverty, Family Nutritional Environment and Children's Educational Performance in Rural China

Shengchao Yu, University of Pennsylvania
Emily Hannum, University of Pennsylvania

Sociology of education research has traditionally focused on economic, cultural and social resources as dominant mechanisms by which impoverished households transmit educational disadvantages to children. This study introduces a new perspective by considering household food environment as a possible mechanism of educational stratification. Analyzing data from a survey of 2000 9-12 year-old children and families in rural Gansu, China, this study addresses two specific questions: first, can the household nutritional environment be linked to school performance, and second, is nutritional environment a significant mechanism linking poverty and school performance? Results show that nutrition measures exert significant effects on school performance while controlling for socio-economic status, other family demographic and environmental variables, and unobserved school and community differences. Further, the effects of socio-economic status are significantly reduced in models that consider nutritional environment in the home, suggesting that nutrition is an important mechanism linking household poverty to school outcomes.