title: Birth Order and health: major issues.
abstract: Birth Order has been described as a variable with a complex relationship to child and adult outcomes. A review of the medical literature over the past 5 years identified 20 studies that investigated the relationship between Birth Order and a health outcome. Only one of the studies established a relationship between Birth Order and a health outcome: third and fourth-born children have a higher incidence of accidents that result in hospitalization. The other demonstrated relationships are each explained by intervening variables or methodological limitations. Although Birth Order is not a strongly independent explanatory factor in understanding health outcomes, it is an important marker variable. Statistically significant relationships between Birth Order and health outcomes yield insights into the ways a family influences an individual's health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Science, University of Minnesota-Duluth 55812.
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Elliott
mesh_terms: D001722:Birth Order; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D009017:Morbidity; D009026:Mortality; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012307:Risk Factors