The Political Context and Infant Health in the United States

Abstract

Most social determinants of health are shaped by political decisions. However, beyond specific policies, there is limited empirical investigation into the consequences of the changing political context on population health in the United States. We examine a salient political factor—the party of the president and governor—as a determinant of infant health between 1971 and 2018 using a battery of fixed-effects models. We focus on infant health because it has far-reaching implications for future population health and inequality. Our analysis yields three findings: (1) Democratic presidents have a beneficial effect on infant health outcomes, with stronger effects for Black infants compared to White infants. (2) The president’s party effect materializes after two years of a Democratic transition, and remains elevated until the end of the party’s tenure in office. (3) Specific measurable social policies appear to play a minor role in explaining the beneficial effect of Democratic administrations. Our findings suggest the party in power is an important determinant of infant health, particularly among vulnerable populations, and they invite a deeper examination of mechanisms.

The Role of Infant Health Problems in Constraining Interneighborhood Mobility: Implications for Citywide Employment Networks

“…In contrast with a large body of knowledge in medical sociology indicating the role of social and economic adversity and inequality in shaping differences in infant health (Conley and Springer 2001;Light and Marshall 2018;Torche 2011;Wildeman 2012), the current study is the first to show evidence on the reverse pathway, that infant health differences significantly exacerbate labor market inequalities among communities. The findings suggest that preexisting health dissimilarities contribute over time to separating segments of the city further apart, expanding existing knowledge on the significance of population health in reinforcing and deepening existing social inequalities and spatial divisions (Conley and Springer 2001;Torche and Rauf 2021). The findings also add important new evidence to a growing body of work on econetworks and health (Browning et al 2015;Browning, Calder, Boettner, and Smith 2017) and highlight for the first time the relevance of infant health in shaping a community's econetwork location in the citywide labor market and the unequal connectivity patterns among communities in a large U.S. city.…”

Hurt on Both Sides: Political Differences in Health and Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Moreover, detailed measures of smoking, drinking, and drug use would provide a fuller portrait of behavioral health. Moving forward, state- and institution-level explanations of political or structural health differences (e.g., Brown and Homan 2022; Homan 2019; Montez 2020; Torche and Rauf 2021) could be integrated into a multilevel conceptual model. Mismatches between individual political background and the larger political context, for example, might constitute a unique source of distress.…”

Social Spending and Educational Gaps in Infant Health in the United States, 1998–2017

“…Additionally, there are strong positive effects of the enactment of income support programs, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (e.g., Gundersen and Kreider 2009 ; Hoynes et al 2016 ; Markowitz et al 2017 ; Strully et al 2010 ), and the provision of housing assistance ( Fenelon et al 2021 ) on child health. In contrast, recent work documents poorer infant health in Republican-controlled states, as well as in states with punitive policies that target and restrict rights among immigrants ( Torche and Rauf 2021 ; Torche and Sirois 2019 ).…”