Gender, body mass, and socioeconomic status: new evidence from the PSID.

Academic Article

Abstract

  • Previous research provides evidence of a negative effect of body mass on women's economic outcomes. We extend this research by using a much older sample of individuals from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and by using a body mass measure that is lagged by 15 years instead of the traditional 7 years. One of the main contributions of this paper is a replication of previous research findings given our differing samples and measures. We compare OLS estimates with sibling fixed effects estimates and find that obesity is associated with an 18% reduction in women's wages, a 25% reduction in women's family income, and a 16% reduction in women's probability of marriage. These effects are robust--they persist much longer than previously understood and they persist across the life course, affecting older women as well as younger women.
  • Authors

  • Conley, Dalton
  • Glauber, Rebecca
  • Status

    Publication Date

  • 2007
  • Keywords

  • Adult
  • Body Mass Index
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Income
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Obesity
  • Prejudice
  • Regression Analysis
  • Sex Distribution
  • Siblings
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • United States
  • Women, Working
  • Digital Object Identifier (doi)

    Pubmed Id

  • 19548555
  • Start Page

  • 253
  • End Page

  • 275
  • Volume

  • 17
  • Issue

  • Issue ahes/2006/s0731-2199(2006)17/s0731-2199(2006)17/production