Social mobility of the father influences child growth: A three‐generation study

Abstract

Objectives: The association between body height and social status is known. We were interested in the effect of intergeneration changes in social status on height. Methods: Body height was measured in 2008 paternal grandfather-father-son and 1803 paternal grandfather-father-daughter triplets. The sample consisted of four child cohorts born in 1988, 1985, 1983, and 1980, and was measured annually from 6 to 11, 9 to 14, 11 to 16, and 14 to 18 years of age. Triplets were dichotomized according to grandfathers' occupation, into one "lower" and one "upper" grandparental class; and according to paternal education, into one "lower" and "upper" paternal class, resulting in four "family histories": two nonmobile (grandfathers and fathers stayed in the same social class), and two mobile histories (social class of fathers and grandfathers differed). Results: "Upper" class fathers are taller than "lower" class fathers. This class effect on height persists into the third generation. Upward social mobility ("lower" class fathers receive secondary or university education) results in taller stature both in the fathers and in the children. The opposite applies for downward social mobility. "Upper" class fathers with only basic or vocational education lose the social advantage and remain shorter. So do their children. Conclusions: The class effect on height tends to persist into the next generation, but depends on education. Upward social mobility measured as a "better" education, results in taller stature, up to the third generation. The study highlights the importance of education as a major regulator of body height.

Association of anthropometric indices of nutritional status with growth in height among Limboo children of Sikkim, India

“…As a result, distribution of heights within a community clusters around the mean (Aßmann & Hermanussen 2013). Similar phenomena are reported by a study on Polish children (Koziel & Gomula 2017;Koziel et al 2019). This is to say the tall height communities generate tall people and short height communities generate short people.…”

Plasticity of human growth – a systematic review on psychosocial factors influencing growth

“…Basnet et al linked maternal resources for care to child growth and found a strong association between maternal education and child outcomes, influencing height and mental well-being (Basnet et al 2019). Similar results were found by Scheffler et al (2018) and Koziel et al (2019), who revealed significant positive effects of higher parental education on growth results in their analysis of height in children from India. This association between higher levels of maternal education and increased growth could even be observed across different socio-cultural contexts (Lakshman et al 2013).…”

“…They also observed a strong effect of intra-and intergenerational social mobility on growth outcomes. Low-class fathers who have attained higher education raised taller sons than low-class fathers who stayed in a low class or even than upper-class fathers who lost their social advantage (Koziel et al 2019). Furthermore, the act of migrating between social classes seemed to affect growth of socially mobile individuals as well and not only growth among their offspring.…”

“…Another aspect of socioeconomic status, which is often investigated separately, is an individuals' social mobility. In contrast to the stable concept of SES, social mobility includes the notion of intra-and intergenerational migration between social classes (Koziel et al 2019). Even though some scientists have recently focused on the effect social mobility can have on growth results, not as much evidence has yet been generated compared to the association of absolute SES and height.…”

The regulation of human growth includes an understanding of competitive growth strategies and community effects on height

“…It has explicitly been mentioned since more than 100 years that upper class children grow taller than lower class children, and that they grow taller irrespective of their nutrition (Hermanussen, Bogin, & Scheffler, ; Schlesinger, ). Koziel, Zaręba, Bielicki, Scheffler, and Hermanussen () studied the effect of intergeneration changes in social status on height in a three‐generation setting and showed that upward social mobility results in taller and downward social mobility, in shorter stature within the same family.…”