Gender, body mass, and socioeconomic status: new evidence from the PSID.
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.
Conley
Dalton
D
Department of Sociology, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Glauber
Rebecca
R
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011287:Prejudice; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017678:Sex Distribution; D035781:Siblings; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014931:Women, Working / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*