The Impact of Head Start Enrollment Duration on Migrant Children’s Health Outcomes

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine whether family characteristics and the length of children’s enrollment in Migrant Head Start affects children’s health treatment. Children in the Michigan Migrant Head Start were classified depending on years of enrollments: One year (n = 638), two years (n = 293), and three or more years (n = 426). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine whether the probability of children receiving health treatment differed depending on years of enrollment. There is a higher health treatment rate among children who attended Head Start for multiple years than for those who attended for one year. Children’s special needs status, of siblings, ethnicity, parental educational level, and marital status were related to preventative dental and physical health treatment outcomes. Although the primary goal of Head Start is school readiness rather than health improvement, migrant and seasonal farmworker children are likely to receive more health treatment if they attend more years of comprehensive intervention, such as Head Start, for positive physical and dental health.

KEYWORDS:

• dental health
• enrollment duration
• Migrant Head Start
• physical health