IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ehbiol/v7y2009i3p376-386.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Socioeconomic status, height, and obesity in children

Author

Listed:
  • Murasko, Jason E.

Abstract

The substantial increase in the prevalence of child obesity over recent decades and its association with a number of negative health and economic outcomes suggests its strong potential as an influence on the lifecourse development of health and productivity. This paper evaluates interactive effects between family socioeconomic status (SES) and height on child obesity in the United States. Using the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), the results of this paper confirm previous findings that taller children exhibit greater propensity towards obesity as measured by body mass index (BMI) and that obesity is inversely related to family SES as measured by poverty status. The analysis adds to the existing literature by showing that the magnitude of the SES-obesity association is larger in taller children. Age and sex patterns are evaluated that suggest the SES-height interaction persists through childhood and adolescence in males but is only evident in females during adolescence. Interaction effects are also shown to be most evident in white males and Hispanic females. Policy implications are discussed and directions for future work are suggested.

Suggested Citation

  • Murasko, Jason E., 2009. "Socioeconomic status, height, and obesity in children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 376-386, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:7:y:2009:i:3:p:376-386
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570-677X(09)00036-7
    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:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_economic_status_paper is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Roberto Rigobon & Thomas M. Stoker, 2007. "Estimation With Censored Regressors: Basic Issues," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 48(4), pages 1441-1467, November.
    3. Edward C. Norton & Hua Wang & Chunrong Ai, 2004. "Computing interaction effects and standard errors in logit and probit models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(2), pages 154-167, June.
    4. Nicola Persico & Andrew Postlewaite & Dan Silverman, 2004. "The Effect of Adolescent Experience on Labor Market Outcomes: The Case of Height," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(5), pages 1019-1053, October.
    5. Goodman, E., 1999. "The role of socioeconomic status gradients in explaining differences in US adolescents' health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(10), pages 1522-1528.
    6. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2008. "Stature and Status: Height, Ability, and Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(3), pages 499-532, June.
    7. Patricia M. Anderson & Kristin F. Butcher & Phillip B. Levine, 2003. "Economic perspectives on childhood obesity," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 27(Q III), pages 30-48.
    8. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    9. Duncan Thomas, 1994. "Like Father, like Son; Like Mother, like Daughter: Parental Resources and Child Height," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(4), pages 950-988.
    10. Nicola Persico & Andrew Postlewaite & Dan Silverman, 2001. "The Effect of Adolescent Experience on Labor Market Outcomes: The Case of Height, Third Version," PIER Working Paper Archive 04-013, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 15 Mar 2004.
    11. Do, D. Phuong & Dubowitz, Tamara & Bird, Chloe E. & Lurie, Nicole & Escarce, Jose J. & Finch, Brian K., 2007. "Neighborhood context and ethnicity differences in body mass index: A multilevel analysis using the NHANES III survey (1988-1994)," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 179-203, July.
    12. repec:pri:cheawb:case_paxson_economic_status_paper.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Joseph J. Sabia, 2007. "The Effect of Body Weight on Adolescent Academic Performance," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(4), pages 871-900, April.
    14. Anne Case & Darren Lubotsky & Christina Paxson, 2002. "Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1308-1334, December.
    15. Classen, Timothy & Hokayem, Charles, 2005. "Childhood influences on youth obesity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 165-187, July.
    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. Sanja Musić Milanović & Maja Lang Morović & Helena Križan & Martina Pezer & Jelena Seferović & Saša Missoni, 2020. "Exploring the effect of socioeconomic development on child growth in posttransitional Croatia: a cross-sectional study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(8), pages 1299-1307, November.
    2. Leonie Sundmacher, 2012. "The effect of health shocks on smoking and obesity," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 13(4), pages 451-460, August.
    3. Apouey, Bénédicte H. & Geoffard, Pierre-Yves, 2016. "Parents’ education and child body weight in France: The trajectory of the gradient in the early years," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 70-89.
    4. Bénédicte Apouey, 2016. "Child physical development in the UK: The imprint of time and socioeconomic status," Working Papers halshs-01364464, HAL.
    5. Jahns, Lisa & Adair, Linda & Mroz, Thomas & Popkin, Barry M., 2012. "The declining prevalence of overweight among Russian children: Income, diet, and physical activity behavior changes," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 139-146.
    6. Lu Ma & Zeping Fang & Liwang Gao & Yaling Zhao & Hong Xue & Ke Li & Youfa Wang, 2020. "A 3-year Longitudinal Study of Pocket Money, Eating Behavior, Weight Status: The Childhood Obesity Study in China Mega-Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Jo, Young, 2014. "What money can buy: Family income and childhood obesity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Classen, Timothy J., 2010. "Measures of the intergenerational transmission of body mass index between mothers and their children in the United States, 1981-2004," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 30-43, March.
    9. Akpalu, Wisdom & Zhang, Xu, 2014. "Fast-food consumption and child body mass index in China: Application of an endogenous switching regression model," WIDER Working Paper Series 139, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Forzani, Liliana & García Arancibia, Rodrigo & Llop, Pamela & Tomassi, Diego, 2018. "Supervised dimension reduction for ordinal predictors," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 136-155.
    11. Beatriz Pereira & Pedro Rosário & Cátia Silva & Gabriela Figueiredo & José Carlos Núñez & Paula Magalhães, 2019. "The Mediator and/or Moderator Role of Complexity of Knowledge about Healthy Eating and Self-Regulated Behavior on the Relation between Family’s Income and Children’s Obesity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-15, October.
    12. Sanja Musić Milanović & Maja Lang Morović & Helena Križan & Martina Pezer & Jelena Seferović & Saša Missoni, 0. "Exploring the effect of socioeconomic development on child growth in posttransitional Croatia: a cross-sectional study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 0, pages 1-9.
    13. Hruschka, Daniel J. & Brewis, Alexandra A., 2013. "Absolute wealth and world region strongly predict overweight among women (ages 18–49) in 360 populations across 36 developing countries," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 337-344.
    14. Hamid Noghanibehambari & Jason Fletcher, 2023. "The Early Bird Catches the Worm: The Effect of Birth Order on Old‐Age Mortality," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 49(3), pages 531-560, September.
    15. Lin Qi & Huamin Peng & Ruiwen Sun, 2022. "Examining Family Living Arrangements, Economic Development, Education Expenditure and Children’s Weight from the Welfare Mix in China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2673-2695, October.
    16. Dasgupta, Kabir & Solomon, Keisha T., 2018. "Family size effects on childhood obesity: Evidence on the quantity-quality trade-off using the NLSY," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 42-55.
    17. Wisdom Akpalu & Xu Zhang, 2014. "Fast-Food Consumption and Child Body Mass Index in China: Application of an Endogenous Switching Regression Model," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-139, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    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. Gorry, Devon, 2017. "The influence of height on academic outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-8.
    2. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Borra, Cristina & Iacovou, Maria & Sevilla, Almudena, 2023. "Adolescent development and the math gender gap," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    4. Aurino, Elisabetta & Lleras-Muney, Adriana & Tarozzi, Alessandro & Tinoco, Brendan, 2023. "The rise and fall of SES gradients in heights around the world," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    5. Nicole Black & David W. Johnston & Anna Peeters, 2015. "Childhood Obesity and Cognitive Achievement," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(9), pages 1082-1100, September.
    6. Chen, Alice J., 2012. "When does weight matter most?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 285-295.
    7. Cally Ardington & Megan Little, 2016. "The Impact of Maternal Death on Children's Health and Education Outcomes," SALDRU Working Papers 184, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    8. Dora L. Costa, 2015. "Health and the Economy in the United States from 1750 to the Present," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(3), pages 503-570, September.
    9. Chen, Yuyu & Li, Hongbin, 2009. "Mother's education and child health: Is there a nurturing effect?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 413-426, March.
    10. von Hinke Kessler Scholder S, 2009. "Genetic Markers as Instrumental Variables: An Application to Child Fat Mass and Academic Achievement," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/25, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    11. Böckerman, Petri & Vainiomäki, Jari, 2013. "Stature and life-time labor market outcomes: Accounting for unobserved differences," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 86-96.
    12. Jun Wang & Qihui Chen & Gang Chen & Yingxiang Li & Guoshu Kong & Chen Zhu, 2020. "What is creating the height premium? New evidence from a Mendelian randomization analysis in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, April.
    13. Apouey, Bénédicte & Geoffard, Pierre-Yves, 2013. "Family income and child health in the UK," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 715-727.
    14. Han, Euna & Norton, Edward C. & Powell, Lisa M., 2011. "Direct and indirect effects of body weight on adult wages," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 381-392.
    15. Rees, Daniel I. & Sabia, Joseph J. & Argys, Laura M., 2009. "A head above the rest: Height and adolescent psychological well-being," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 217-228, July.
    16. Belot, Michèle & Fidrmuc, Jan, 2010. "Anthropometry of love: Height and gender asymmetries in interethnic marriages," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 361-372, December.
    17. Grace Wyshak, 2014. "Height, Socioeconomic and Subjective Well-Being Factors among U.S. Women, Ages 49–79," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(6), pages 1-17, June.
    18. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2010. "Causes and consequences of early-life health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(1), pages 65-85, March.
    19. Thompson, Kristina & Koolman, Xander & Portrait, France, 2021. "Height and marital outcomes in the Netherlands, birth years 1841-1900," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    20. Baten, Jörg & Batinti, Alberto & Costa-Font, Joan & Radatz, Laura, 2024. "Health insurance and height inequality: Evidence from European health insurance expansions," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

    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:7:y:2009:i:3:p:376-386. 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.