Parental Unemployment During the Great Recession and Childhood Adiposity
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
WP20_11.pdf | 875.17 kB | Adobe PDF | Download |
Title: | Parental Unemployment During the Great Recession and Childhood Adiposity | Authors: | Briody, Jonathan | Permanent link: | http://hdl.handle.net/10197/11436 | Date: | May-2020 | Online since: | 2020-07-23T16:09:52Z | Abstract: | The incidence of adiposity in the early years of life has outgrown the prevalence rate in older children and adolescents globally; however, the relationships between unemployment and weight are predominantly studied in adults. This study examines the relationship between changing economic conditions during the Irish recession and child weight. Fixed effect logistic regression is used to examine the effects of parental unemployment on weight using the Growing up in Ireland infant cohort from 2008 to 2013. This study is the first to use longitudinal anthropometric measurements to estimate the impact of parental unemployment on children’s weight before, during and after a recession. Child growth charts are used to quantify children according to overweight for BMI, weight for age, and weight for height measures. For BMI, the probability of a child being overweight is 6 percentage points higher if either parent has experienced unemployment. For weight for age the probability is of similar magnitude across several alternative growth charts and definitions of adiposity. The analysis is repeated, cross-sectionally, for physical activity and diet to clarify mechanisms of effect. The probability of a child consuming healthy food and physical activity with an implied cost is lower if either parent becomes unemployed. A focus on excess adiposity in the early years is of crucial importance as if current trends are not addressed a generation of children may grow up with a higher level of chronic disease. | Funding Details: | Health Research Board | Type of material: | Working Paper | Publisher: | University College Dublin. School of Economics | Series/Report no.: | UCD Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series; WP2020/11 | Copyright (published version): | 2020 the Author | Keywords: | Health; Panel data; Unemployment; The Great Recession; Children | JEL Codes: | I12; I18; C33; J10; J13 | Language: | en | Status of Item: | Not peer reviewed | This item is made available under a Creative Commons License: | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/ |
Appears in Collections: | Geary Institute Research Collection Economics Working Papers & Policy Papers |
Show full item record
Page view(s)
169
Last Week
2
2
Last month
19
19
checked on Jan 22, 2021
Download(s)
15
checked on Jan 22, 2021
Google ScholarTM
Check
If you are a publisher or author and have copyright concerns for any item, please email research.repository@ucd.ie and the item will be withdrawn immediately. The author or person responsible for depositing the article will be contacted within one business day.