Differences in height by education among 371,105 Dutch military conscripts

Ying Huang, Frans van Poppel and L.H. Lumey

Economics & Human Biology, 2015, vol. 17, issue C, 202-207

Abstract: Adult height is associated with a variety of familial and socio-economic factors and large, well-defined populations are needed for a reliable assessment of their relative contributions. We therefore analyzed recorded heights from the military health examinations of 18-year conscripts in the Netherlands born between 1944 and 1947 and observed large differences by their attained education and by their father's occupation. The 5.1cm height gradient from lowest to highest education level was more than twice as large as the gradient between father's occupation levels. The education gradient was not explained by common determinants of height including paternal occupation as a measure of familial background, region of birth, family size, or religion.

Keywords: Height; Socio-economic background; Education; Cognition; Military conscripts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I21 J17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:17:y:2015:i:c:p:202-207

DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2014.11.002

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