Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Dec;10(4):405-18.
doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2012.04.015. Epub 2012 Jun 2.

The effect of fat mass on educational attainment: examining the sensitivity to different identification strategies

Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholder  1 , George Davey Smith, Debbie A Lawlor, Carol Propper, Frank Windmeijer
Affiliations

The effect of fat mass on educational attainment: examining the sensitivity to different identification strategies

Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholder et al. Econ Hum Biol. 2012 Dec.

Abstract

The literature that examines the relationship between child or adolescent Body Mass Index (BMI) and academic attainment generally finds mixed results. This may be due to the use of different data sets, conditioning variables, or methodologies: studies either use an individual fixed effects (FE) approach and/or an instrumental variable (IV) specification. Using one common dataset, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, and a common set of controls, this paper compares the different approaches (including using different types of IV's), discusses their appropriateness, and contrasts their findings. We show that, although the results differ depending on the approach, most estimates cannot be statistically distinguished from OLS, nor from each other. Examining the potential violations of key assumptions of the different approaches and comparing their point estimates, we conclude that fat mass is unlikely to be causally related to academic achievement in adolescence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Non-parametric regression of KS2 on adiposity at age 9.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Non-parametric regression of KS3 on adiposity at age 11.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Angrist J., Graddy K., Imbens G. The interpretation of instrumental variables estimators in simultaneous equation models with an application to the demand for fish. Review of Economic Studies. 2000;67:499–527.
    1. Averett S.L., Stifel D.C. Race and gender differences in the cognitive effects of childhood overweight. Applied Economics Letters. 2010;17:1673–1679.
    1. Burkhauser R.V., Cawley J. Beyond BMI: the value of more accurate measures of fatness and obesity in social science research. Journal of Health Economics. 2008;27:519–529. - PubMed
    1. Burkhauser R.V., Cawley J., Schmeiser M. The timing of the ruse in U.S. obesity varies with the measure of fatness. Economics and Human Biology. 2009;7:307–318. - PubMed
    1. Case A., Paxson C. Stature and status: height, ability and labor market outcomes. Journal of Political Economy. 2008;116:499–532. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types