Measuring socio-economic differentials in low birth weight: looking beyond parental employment and educational attainment

Francisco Viciana, Instituto de Estadistica de Andalucia
Sol Juarez, Lund University
Bárbara Revuelta Eugercios, Lund University
Diego Ramiro-Fariñas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Víctor Montañes Cobo, Instituto de Estadística de Andalucía
Juan Merlo, Lund University

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding on social inequalities, focusing on low birth weight socio-economic differentials. SES (Socio-economic status) is not a direct observed measure and, although it is widely known that variables such as income, education and occupation of both father and mother cover different aspects of the social stratification, they tend to be taken isolated as if they were interchangeable. This working approach clearly dissociates model specification from theory, since it does not contemplate the complexity existing between these different dimensions of life, especially for women in reproductive ages.