Mother’s well-being to the rescue of future generation’s health

Abstract

Children are important asset for a country’s future and development. Their health and well-being matter in determining their productivity in the future. However, obesity rates amongst children in Indonesia is on the rise. Ministry of Health in Indonesia reported the highest national prevalence of obesity occurred in children aged 5-12 years (18.8%), followed by groups 13-15 years (10.8 %), and 16-18 years (7.3%). Obesity itself is caused by increased intake of sugar and fat that are mostly found in prepared food and junk food as well as low physical activity. Accordingly, prepared food consumption is on the rise as well due to the modern fast-paced lives these days. Using data from Indonesian Family Life Survey wave 5, this paper aims to find association between family’s characteristics and children’s health status. The result shows economic class have no significant effect on children’s health status. On the other hand, mother’s years of schooling, mother’s health, fast food consumption and father’s smoking behaviour have a significant association on children’s health. The outcome of mother’s well-being give positive effect on children’s health since they are traditionally the caregiver of the family, hence with better well-being, they are able to create better environment for the children.