Height, education and later-life cognition in Latin America and the Caribbean

Jürgen Maurer

Economics & Human Biology, 2010, vol. 8, issue 2, 168-176

Abstract: Building on previous evidence from the U.S., this study investigates the relationship between anthropometric markers (height and knee height), early-life conditions, education, and cognitive function in later life among urban elderly from Latin America and the Caribbean. I document a positive association between height and later-life cognitive function, which is larger for women than for men. This sex difference increases when I address potential feedback effects from mid- and later-life circumstances on stature by using knee height as an instrument for height. Specifically, while the estimates for women remain largely unchanged, I only find a diminished and statistically insignificant association between instrumented height and later-life cognition for men. This finding suggests that at least part of the association between height and later-life cognition among men may stem from common third factors that are correlated with both height and later-life cognition, such as adverse occupational exposures or health events during mid- and later life. Extended models that also include education further diminish the association between height and later-life cognition. Education displays strong positive gradients with the employed measures of childhood circumstances - including height - which points to education as a potential pathway linking early-life conditions and later-life cognitive function.

Keywords: Early-life; conditions; Later-life; cognitive; function; Height; Knee; height; Physical; stature; Latin; America; Caribbean (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:8:y:2010:i:2:p:168-176

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