EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Familial transmission of human longevity: a population-based study in an inland village of Sardinia (Italy), 1850–2010

Luisa Salaris, Nicola Tedesco and Michel Poulain

Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, 2013, vol. 11, issue 1, 325-349

Abstract: This study investigates the role of familial transmission on individual survival in an inland community of Sardinia that stands for the exceptional longevity of its inhabitants. The analysis considers the complete survival trajectories of individuals born in the village of Villagrande Strisaili from unions in the period from 1850 to 1910 and aims to estimate the possible effect on the relationships parent–offspring and between siblings. Our results show that the frail familial component of the population, rather than the robust one, proves to be a good predictor of individual survival. No association between father survival and that of children was found. Having instead a long-living mother increases lifespan, especially for daughters. But the strongest relationship is that observed between siblings. The survival of siblings is positively associated with individual survival and this relationship is particularly strong for males. This finding points for both genetic and environment influence, and particularly of early-life conditions, on longevity.

Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://austriaca.at/0xc1aa5576_0x00307bc0.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vid:yearbk:v:11:y:2013:i:1:p:325-349

Access Statistics for this article

Vienna Yearbook of Population Research is currently edited by Tomas Sobotka and Maria Winkler-Dworak

More articles in Vienna Yearbook of Population Research from Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bernhard Rengs ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-20
Handle: RePEc:vid:yearbk:v:11:y:2013:i:1:p:325-349