| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5046466 | Social Science & Medicine | 2017 | 8 Pages |
â¢Study of the effects of breastfeeding on the distribution of children's test scores.â¢A semiparametric quantile regression is used for the estimation.â¢The effects are greater for children with lower test scores.
Do children with lower test scores benefit more from breastfeeding than those with higher scores? In this paper, I examine the distributional effects of maternal breastfeeding on the cognitive test scores of 11,544 children who were born in 2000 and 2001 in the United Kingdom using a semiparametric quantile regression model. I find evidence that maternal breastfeeding has larger positive impacts on children with lower test scores. Effects for children below the 20th percentile are about 2-2.5 times greater than those for children above the 80th percentile. I also find that these distributional effects are larger when the duration of breastfeeding is extended. One policy implication is that a public policy aims at promoting breastfeeding might narrow a disparity in children's cognition.
