Born to be wide? Exploring correlations in mother and adolescent Body Mass Index using data from the British Household Panel Survey

Publication type

Research Paper

Series Number

2012019

Series

Sheffield Economic Research Paper Series

Authors

Publication date

August 1, 2012

Summary:

 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.

Subject

Link

http://www.shef.ac.uk/economics/research/serps/articles/2012_019


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