Early-life cohort exposure and child survival: Maternal education, intergenerational health capital, and developmental environments in kenya

Substantial declines in child mortality across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have coincided with improvements in female education, gender equality, and human capital accumulation, yet whether the developmental environments women experience during childhood shape the intergenerational link between maternal education and child survival remains unclear. This study examines whether cohort-specific exposure to gender parity, human capital accumulation, and longevity conditions during women's formative years modifies child mortality outcomes in Kenya. The study links historical measures of gender parity, human capital, and life expectancy to harmonized census microdata from Kenya spanning 1989-2019, matching cohort-specific exposure measures to women by childhood years and to individual child mortality outcomes. Fixed-effects models estimate the direct and interactive effects of maternal education and developmental exposures on the probability that a woman has experienced the death of at least one child. Maternal education remains a strong predictor of child survival, with higher attainment associated with significantly lower mortality risk across specifications. Cohort-specific developmental environments exert independent effects: childhood exposure to primary-school gender parity reduces child mortality risk (β=-15.228, p<0.05), exposure to primary educational parity across ages 0-18 shows a larger reduction (β=-55.491, p<0.01), and exposure to stronger human capital environments shows a comparable reduction (β=-10.360, p<0.05). These conditions also strengthen the intergenerational returns to maternal education, with effects concentrated among disadvantaged and rural populations. Childhood developmental environments function as intergenerational health capital, suggesting that policies promoting gender parity, human capital formation, and childhood development can generate health benefits extending beyond the directly affected generation.