Birth order and physical fitness in early adulthood: Evidence from Swedish military conscription data

Barclay, Kieron J.; Myrskylä, Mikko

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.11.007

Cited by 31 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In our analyses of physical fitness and height, we also adjust for birth order, as research demonstrates that, compared to first‐borns, later‐born children have lower physical fitness (Barclay and Myrskylä ) and are shorter (Myrskylä et al. ).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced Maternal Age and Offspring Outcomes: Reproductive Aging and Counterbalancing Period Trends

Barclay

Myrskylä²

2016

Population & Development Rev

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100

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Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced Maternal Age and Offspring Outcomes: Reproductive Aging and Counterbalancing Period Trends

Barclay

Myrskylä²

2016

Population & Development Rev

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100

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“…Gender is a critical component of health, and there is some evidence that the secondary sex ratio varies slightly by maternal age (James, 1987). Birth order is also related to maternal age, and has been shown to be related to both health behaviours and long-term health (Barclay and Myrskylä, 2014, Barclay and Kolk, 2015). The size of the sibling group will also be related to the mother’s age, and sibling group size has been shown to be related to both health and health behaviours (Hatton & Martin, 2010).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal age and offspring health and health behaviours in late adolescence in Sweden

Barclay

Myrskylä

2016

SSM - Population Health

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In this study we investigate the relationship between maternal age at the time of birth and a variety of health behaviours and measures of health amongst young adults in contemporary Sweden. Previous research has shown that those born to younger and older mothers tend to have worse perinatal outcomes, and worse health in middle- and later adulthood. However, previous work has not examined health in early adulthood, and no studies have explored whether maternal age is related to health behaviours. Using survey data on 1236 19-year olds born in Sweden in 1990, we find that those born to older mothers have lower self-rated health, are more likely to smoke, more likely to drink alcohol regularly, and less likely to exercise regularly. We discuss potential explanations for these findings, such as older parents exerting lower social control due to greater levels of workplace responsibilities and time demands, long-term consequences of the poor peri-natal outcomes of those born to older mothers, as well as the potential role of parental health behaviours. Our findings suggest that health behaviours may play an important mediating role in explaining the worse long-term health of those born to younger and older mothers.

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“…Thus our estimate of the effects of family size is a net one, combining the effect of crowding and the resource dilution that occurs as a given family income is shared among more children. While we cannot measure this directly without measures of income or unemployment, the small impact of teenage siblings on young children’s stature suggests that resource dilution may be attenuated by spacing and distance in age from competing siblings (Barclay & Myrskylä, 2014). …”

Section: Family Structure Resources and Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Hatton shows in an article in this issue, stature, and more broadly health, may be a more responsive domain to child quality-quantity trade-offs than outcomes such as education (Hatton, 2016). In modern settings birth order and family size have been found to have large effects on physical fitness and stature in egalitarian and low-fertility Sweden (Barclay & Myrskylä, 2014) (Myrskylä, Silventoinen, Jelenkovic, Tynelius, & Rasmussen, 2013). By contrast the early twentieth century United States was characterized by relatively large families and relatively low incomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family structure and childhood anthropometry in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1918

Roberts

Warren

2016

The History of the Family

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Concern with childhood nutrition prompted numerous surveys of children’s growth in the United States after 1870. The Children’s Bureau’s 1918 “Weighing and Measuring Test” measured two million children to produce the first official American growth norms. Individual data for 14,000 children survives from the Saint Paul, Minnesota survey whose stature closely approximated national norms. As well as anthropometry the survey recorded exact ages, street address and full name. These variables allow linkage to the 1920 census to obtain demographic and socioeconomic information. We matched 72% of children to census families creating a sample of nearly 10,000 children. Children in the entire survey (linked set) averaged 0.74 (0.72) standard deviations below modern WHO height-for-age standards, and 0.48 (0.46) standard deviations below modern weight-for-age norms. Sibship size strongly influenced height-for-age, and had weaker influence on weight-for-age. Each additional child six or underreduced height-for-age scores by 0.07 standard deviations (95% CI: −0.03, 0.11). Teenage siblings had little effect on height-forage. Social class effects were substantial. Children of laborers averaged half a standard deviation shorter than children of professionals. Family structure and socio-economic status had compounding impacts on children’s stature.

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Birth order and physical fitness in early adulthood: Evidence from Swedish military conscription data

Cited by 31 publications

References 39 publications

Advanced Maternal Age and Offspring Outcomes: Reproductive Aging and Counterbalancing Period Trends

Advanced Maternal Age and Offspring Outcomes: Reproductive Aging and Counterbalancing Period Trends

Maternal age and offspring health and health behaviours in late adolescence in Sweden

Family structure and childhood anthropometry in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1918

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