California Center for Population Research

This article identifies key points in childhood that may be particularly detrimental and persistent in their influence on adult social status; examines whether poor health at critical educational periods shuttles children into less rigorous educational tracks, making educational trajectories a mediator in the link between health at particular periods in childhood and socioeconomic success in adulthood; and examines patterns in these relationships over the adult life course. I use unique data from the U.K. that allow me to follow a cohort from birth through mid-adulthood. Results suggest that poor health is often especially negatively associated with adult social status at transitional educational ages, but that there are associations at stable educational ages as well. To a large extent, the influence of health at the educational transition age of 11 is explained by educational tracking, suggesting an indirect path from health at this point to social status. Finally, the influence of the prenatal environment, particularly of maternal smoking, is not explained by educational tracking or by health and social status in early adulthood.