The article is based on a survey of the differences of opinion on gender and career choice issues of Jamaican students of both sexes at three different levels of education: secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate.

Utilising data collected in 1991 through the Survey of Living Conditions in Jamaica, the study analyses the linkage between mothers' educational levels and the health status of children. The results of the study are three-fold. First, increased levels of mothers' education are associated with: (i) reduction in number of days that children are ill; (ii) reduction in household size and; (iii) increase in household income. Secondly, increased levels of household income are associated with reduction in number of days that children are ill.