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Born to Be Wide? Exploring Correlations in Mother and Adolescent Body Mass Index Using Data from the British Household Panel Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Heather Brown

    (Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University)

  • Jennifer Roberts

    (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield)

Abstract

The channels contributing to the intergenerational correlation in body mass are not well understood. Decomposition analysis is used to estimate the contribution of maternal characteristics, household income, and adolescent behaviours related to eating and physical activity on the intergenerational correlation in BMI. The analysis uses data on mothers and their adolescent children aged 11 to 15 from the British Household Panel Survey (2004 and 2006). The overall intergenerational correlation in BMI is 0.25. Maternal educational attainment and adolescent participation in some form of physical activity on a daily basis are the largest contributing factors to the intergenerational correlation in BMI. Maternal employment and more than four hours a day of television viewing by the adolescent are also important contributing factors. Overall, observable characteristics explain 11.2% of the intergenerational correlation in BMI.

Suggested Citation

  • Heather Brown & Jennifer Roberts, 2012. "Born to Be Wide? Exploring Correlations in Mother and Adolescent Body Mass Index Using Data from the British Household Panel Survey," Working Papers 2012019, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:shf:wpaper:2012019
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    File URL: http://www.shef.ac.uk/economics/research/serps/articles/2012_019.html
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    body mass index; restricted maximum likelihood; intergenerational correlation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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