Birth order and health: Major issues

Barbara A. Elliott

Social Science & Medicine, 1992, vol. 35, issue 4, 443-452

Abstract: Birth Order has been described as a variable with a complex relationship to child and adult outcomes. A review of the medical literature over the past 5 years identified 20 studies that investigated the relationship between Birth Order and a health outcome. Only one of the studies established a relationship between Birth Order and a health outcome: third and fourth-born children have a higher incidence of accidents that result in hospitalization. The other demonstrated relationships are each explained by intervening variables or methodological limitations. Although Birth Order is not a strongly independent explanatory factor in understanding health outcomes, it is an important marker variable. Statistically significant relationships between Birth Order and health outcomes yield insights into the ways a family influences an individual's health.

Keywords: birth; order; family; status; and; health; inter-family; relationships (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1992
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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