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Vertical transmission of overweight: evidence from English adoptees

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  • Costa-Font, Joan
  • Jofre-Bonet, Mireia
  • Le Grand, Julian

Abstract

We examine the vertical transmission of overweight drawing upon a sample of English children, both adopted and non-adopted, and their families. Our results suggest strong evidence of an intergenerational association of overweight among adoptees, indicating transmission through cultural factors. We find that, when both adoptive parents are overweight, the likelihood of an adopted child being overweight is between 10% and 20% higher than when they are not. We also find that the cultural transmission of overweight is not aggravated by having a full-time working mother, so do not confirm the existence of a female labour market participation penalty on child overweight among adoptees. Overall, our findings, despite subject to data limitations, are robust to a battery of robustness checks, specification and sample selection corrections.

Suggested Citation

  • Costa-Font, Joan & Jofre-Bonet, Mireia & Le Grand, Julian, 2016. "Vertical transmission of overweight: evidence from English adoptees," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60785, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:60785
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    1. Vertical transmission of overweight: evidence from English adoptees
      by maximorossi in NEP-LTV blog on 2015-02-20 22:54:58

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    1. Dioikitopoulos, Evangelos V. & Minos, Dimitrios & Vandoros, Sotiris, 2020. "The (Agri-)Cultural origins of obesity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vertical transmission; cultural transmission; overweight; children; natural parents; Body Mass Index; sample selection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

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