Modern body mass index values, marital status, and household size: 1980s to the present

Scott A. Carson

No 7638, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: The body mass index (BMI) is the primary means of classifying obesity and reflects a complex set of interactions related to the institution of marriage and household characteristics. There is an inverse relationship between BMI and height, and height reflects the cumulative price of net nutrition during childhood and resources devoted to an off-spring’s health from care-givers. There are gender specific relationships between BMI and marital status, and after controlling for height, single women have lower BMIs than women in other household relationships. While causal mechanisms may have changed over time, there is a positive relationship between BMIs and household size.

Keywords: family structure; obesity; marital status; net nutrition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 I12 J12 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-hea
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7638

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