Peer-reviewed article
Child well-being in Vietnam: The roles of household welfare and early childbearing
Hue Thi Hoang, Phuong Thi Xuan Ngo, Lan Thi Nguyen, Yen Thi Bao Le, Chi Khanh Tran et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This paper looks at how household welfare and early childbearing relate to child well-being in Vietnam. It uses 2020-2021 data from the Vietnam SDGCW survey, run by the General Statistics Office and UNICEF. Household welfare is measured with an asset index, and child well-being is measured across six dimensions. Using Tobit and OLS regression, the authors find that higher household welfare is linked to better child well-being, both directly and indirectly through lower early childbearing rates. The authors make suggestions for improving household welfare and managing early childbearing.
Key points
- Most earlier Vietnamese studies of child well-being look at single aspects rather than several dimensions.
- Household welfare is measured with an asset index, used as an alternative to income and expenditure.
- Child well-being is measured in six constitutive dimensions.
- Higher household welfare directly increases child well-being.
- Higher household welfare also has an indirect positive effect by reducing the early childbearing rate.
Limitations
The abstract does not say which six dimensions were used, how early childbearing was defined, or give effect sizes. It reports correlations from secondary survey data, so it cannot show that the relationships are causal.
Abstract
Children are important resources for nations' long-term and sustainable development; therefore, they have the right to have their well-being ensured from birth. Although multidimensional methods for researching child well-being in Vietnam have made some progress, most studies still focus on single aspects of child well-being. This paper analyzes the correlations between household welfare (measured by the asset index - an effective alternative tool to income and expenditure), early childbearing, and child well-being (in six constitutive dimensions) to provide a broad picture of the above relationships in the Vietnamese context. Using secondary data from the Vietnam Sustainable Development Goal Indicators for Children and Women (SDGCW) survey by the General Statistics Office (GSO) of Vietnam and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in the period 2020–2021, and applying Tobit and OLS regression models, the research results show that a high level of household welfare not only directly increases child well-being but also has an indirect positive effect on this indicator by reducing the early childbearing rate. Based on the research findings, several suggestions are made to improve household welfare; therefore, this paper can support the government in managing early childbearing rates and improving child well-being throughout the country.