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Research Article
Open Access

Household Wealth and Child Body Mass Index: Patterns and Mechanisms

Courtney Boen, Lisa A. Keister, Nick Graetz
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences August 2021, 7 (3) 80-100; DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2021.7.3.04
Courtney Boen
aAssistant professor of sociology, research associate in the Population Studies Center and Population Aging Research Center, and senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, United States
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Lisa A. Keister
bProfessor in the Department of Sociology and Sanford School of Public Policy and faculty research scholar of the Duke University Population Research Institute at Duke University, United States
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Nick Graetz
cPhD candidate in demography and sociology in the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania, United States
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Abstract

Wealth plays a unique role in shaping later-life health risk, but the relationship between wealth and child health remains largely unexplored. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) (1994–2013), this study uses multilevel mixed-effects models and the parametric g-formula approach to both assess the relationship between household wealth and child body mass index (BMI) and identify the mechanisms linking wealth to child BMI. We find that household wealth is negatively associated with childhood BMI. In addition to finding a strong, direct association, we also find that household wealth indirectly patterns child BMI and obesity risk through household spending and family stress processes. These findings provide new insights into the links between wealth, child health, and early-life population health disparities.

  • wealth
  • child health
  • health disparities
  • © 2021 Russell Sage Foundation. Boen, Courtney, Lisa A. Keister, and Nick Graetz. 2021. “Household Wealth and Child Body Mass Index: Patterns and Mechanisms.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 7(3): 80–100. DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2021.7.3.04. Direct correspondence to: Courtney Boen at cboen{at}upenn.edu, 232 McNeil Building, 3718 Locus Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States; Lisa A. Keister at lkeister{at}duke.edu, 268 Soc/Psych Bldg, Durham, NC 27708, United States; and Nick Graetz at ngraetz{at}sas.upenn.edu, 249–2 McNeil Building, 3718 Locus Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States.

Open Access Policy: RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences is an open access journal. This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences: 7 (3)
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
Vol. 7, Issue 3
1 Aug 2021
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Household Wealth and Child Body Mass Index: Patterns and Mechanisms
Courtney Boen, Lisa A. Keister, Nick Graetz
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Aug 2021, 7 (3) 80-100; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2021.7.3.04

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Household Wealth and Child Body Mass Index: Patterns and Mechanisms
Courtney Boen, Lisa A. Keister, Nick Graetz
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Aug 2021, 7 (3) 80-100; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2021.7.3.04
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