IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ehbiol/v6y2008i2p228-236.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimation of secular trends in adult height, and childhood socioeconomic circumstances in three Eastern European populations

Author

Listed:
  • Webb, Elizabeth Alice
  • Kuh, Diana
  • Pajak, Andrzej
  • Kubinova, Ruzena
  • Malyutina, Sofia
  • Bobak, Martin

Abstract

The objective of these analyses was to estimate the strength and direction of secular trends in adult height and childhood socioeconomic circumstances in eight towns in three Eastern European countries in the mid-20th century, and to assess the extent to which childhood conditions might explain the height differences. We used cross-sectional data from the baseline survey of the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors in Eastern Europe (HAPIEE) study, conducted in 2002-2005. The study examined 24,012 men and women born between 1933 and 1957, randomly selected from the general populations of Novosibirsk (Russia), Krakow (Poland) and six towns of the Czech Republic. To allow for age-related height loss we estimated maximum attained height. Parental education and household item ownership at age 10 were used as markers of childhood socioeconomic conditions. In all 5-year birth cohorts, Novosibirsk men and women were shortest. There were positive and statistically significant secular trends in childhood conditions and in maximum adult height. Adjustment for childhood conditions explained about one third of the trend in height. There appeared to be a small reduction in height of persons born during the Second World War which was, however, only significant in Novosibirsk. These results suggest that secular trends in height mirror, but are not wholly explained by, trends in socioeconomic circumstances in early life.

Suggested Citation

  • Webb, Elizabeth Alice & Kuh, Diana & Pajak, Andrzej & Kubinova, Ruzena & Malyutina, Sofia & Bobak, Martin, 2008. "Estimation of secular trends in adult height, and childhood socioeconomic circumstances in three Eastern European populations," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 228-236, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:6:y:2008:i:2:p:228-236
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570-677X(08)00019-1
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:germec:v:4:y:2003:i::p:459-473 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Berney, L. R. & Blane, D. B., 1997. "Collecting retrospective data: Accuracy of recall after 50 years judged against historical records," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1519-1525, November.
    3. John Komlos & Peter Kriwy, 2003. "The Biological Standard of Living in the Two Germanies," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 4(4), pages 459-473, November.
    4. Cole, T. J., 2003. "The secular trend in human physical growth: a biological view," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 161-168, June.
    5. Vignerova, J. & Brabec, M. & Blaha, P., 2006. "Two centuries of growth among Czech children and youth," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 237-252, June.
    6. John Komlos, "undated". "Stature and Nutrition in the Habsburg Monarchy: The Standard of Living and Economic Development," Articles by John Komlos 36, Department of Economics, University of Munich.
    7. Mironov, Boris, 2007. "Birth weight and physical stature in St. Petersburg: Living standards of women in Russia, 1980-2005," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 123-143, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. S V Subramanian & Emre Özaltin & Jocelyn E Finlay, 2011. "Height of Nations: A Socioeconomic Analysis of Cohort Differences and Patterns among Women in 54 Low- to Middle-Income Countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(4), pages 1-13, April.
    2. Steckel, Richard H., 2009. "Heights and human welfare: Recent developments and new directions," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-23, January.
    3. Bartowiak, Sylwia & Konarski, Jan M. & Strzelczyk, Ryszard & Malina, Robert M., 2024. "Secular change in heights of rural adults in west-central poland between 1986 and 2016: The transition from pre- to post-communism," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    4. Manuel Llorca-Jaña & Javier Rivas & Damian Clarke & Diego Barría Traverso, 2020. "Height of Male Prisoners in Santiago de Chile during the Nitrate Era: The Penalty of being Unskilled, Illiterate, Illegitimate and Mapuche," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-24, August.
    5. Cvrcek, Tomas, 2009. "Inequality and living standards under early communism: Anthropometric evidence from Czechoslovakia, 1946-1966," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 436-449, October.
    6. Richmond, Tracy K. & Walls, Courtney E. & Subramanian, S.V., 2013. "The association of adolescent socioeconomic position and adult height: Variation across racial/ethnic groups," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 178-184.
    7. Perkins, Jessica M. & Khan, Kashif T. & Smith, George Davey & Subramanian, S.V., 2011. "Patterns and trends of adult height in India in 2005-2006," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 184-193, March.
    8. Marco-Gracia, Francisco J. & González-Esteban, Ángel Luis, 2021. "Did parental care in early life affect height? Evidence from rural Spain (19th-20th centuries)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    9. Tucker-Seeley, Reginald D. & Subramanian, S.V., 2011. "Childhood circumstances and height among older adults in the United States," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 194-202, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hiermeyer, Martin, 2008. "The trade-off between a high and an equal biological standard of living--Evidence from Germany," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 431-445, December.
    2. Vignerova, J. & Humenikova, L. & Brabec, M. & Riedlova, J. & Blaha, P., 2007. "Long-term changes in body weight, BMI, and adiposity rebound among children and adolescents in the Czech republic," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 409-425, December.
    3. Komlos, John & Baur, Marieluise, 2004. "From the tallest to (one of) the fattest: the enigmatic fate of the American population in the 20th century," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 57-74, March.
    4. Zong, Xin-Nan & Li, Hui & Wu, Hua-Hong & Zhang, Ya-Qin, 2015. "Socioeconomic development and secular trend in height in China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 258-264.
    5. A'Hearn, Brian & Komlos, John, 2003. "Improvements in Maximum Likelihood Estimators of Truncated Normal Samples with Prior Knowledge of σ," Discussion Papers in Economics 51, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    6. Baltzer, Markus & Baten, Jörg, 2008. "Height, trade, and inequality in the Latin American periphery, 1950-2000," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 191-203, July.
    7. Kopczyński, Michał, 2019. "Between the Great War and the Great Depression: preliminary observations on the ‘missing link’ in the history of human stature in Poland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 162-168.
    8. Cvrcek, Tomas, 2009. "Inequality and living standards under early communism: Anthropometric evidence from Czechoslovakia, 1946-1966," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 436-449, October.
    9. Steckel, Richard H., 2009. "Heights and human welfare: Recent developments and new directions," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-23, January.
    10. John Komlos & Leonard Carlson, 2014. "The anthropometric history of Native Americans, C.1820–1890," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, volume 30, pages 135-161, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    11. A'Hearn, Brian, 2004. "A restricted maximum likelihood estimator for truncated height samples," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 5-19, March.
    12. Cvrcek, Tomas, 2006. "Seasonal anthropometric cycles in a command economy: The case of Czechoslovakia, 1946-1966," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 317-341, December.
    13. Pak, Sunyoung, 2004. "The biological standard of living in the two Koreas," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 511-518, December.
    14. Gyenis, Gyula & Joubert, Kalman, 2004. "Socioeconomic determinants of anthropometric trends among Hungarian youth," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 321-333, June.
    15. Moradi, Alexander & Baten, Joerg, 2005. "Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: New Data and New Insights from Anthropometric Estimates," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1233-1265, August.
    16. Dinda, Soumyananda & Gangopadhyay, P.K. & Chattopadhyay, B.P. & Saiyed, H.N. & Pal, M. & Bharati, P., 2006. "Height, weight and earnings among coalminers in India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 342-350, December.
    17. Bielecki, Emily M. & Haas, Jere D. & Hulanicka, Barbara, 2012. "Secular changes in the height of Polish schoolboys from 1955 to 1988," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 310-317.
    18. Schoch, Tobias & Staub, Kaspar & Pfister, Christian, 2012. "Social inequality and the biological standard of living: An anthropometric analysis of Swiss conscription data, 1875–1950," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 154-173.
    19. Núñez, Javier & Pérez, Graciela, 2015. "Trends in physical stature across socioeconomic groups of Chilean boys, 1880–1997," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 100-114.
    20. Bassino, Jean-Pascal, 2006. "Inequality in Japan (1892-1941): Physical stature, income, and health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 62-88, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:6:y:2008:i:2:p:228-236. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622964 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.