Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 96-111 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Economics and human biology |
| Volume | 26 |
| Early online date | 11 Mar 2017 |
| Publication status | Published - 23 Mar 2017 |
Abstract
Many studies have shown that obesity is a serious health problem for our society. Empirical analyses often neglect a number of methodological issues and relevant influences on health. This paper investigates empirically whether neglecting these items leads to systematically different estimates. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, this study derives the following results. (1) Many combinations of weight and height lead to the same health status. (2) The relationship between health and body mass index is nonlinear. (3) Underweight strengthens individual health and severe obesity has a clear negative impact on health status. Underweight women are more affected than men but obese men are hit harder than women. (4) The hypothesis has to be rejected that weight has an exogenous influence on health. (5) A worse health status is linked with weight fluctuations and deviations between desired and actual working hours. (6) A healthy diet and long but not too long sleeping contribute to a good health status. Moreover, a good parental education and a high parental social status act favorably on health as does personal high income. (7) Four of the big five components of personality, namely openness, extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness, contribute to resilience against health problems.
Keywords
- Body-mass index, Endogeneity, Gender, Health, Income, Individual personality, Parental social status, Sleeping, Smoking, Sporting, Working hours
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics, Econometrics and Finance(all)
- Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Economics and human biology, Vol. 26, 23.03.2017, p. 96-111.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Health and weight
T2 - gender-specific linkages under heterogeneity, interdependence and resilience factors
AU - Hübler, Olaf
PY - 2017/3/23
Y1 - 2017/3/23
N2 - Many studies have shown that obesity is a serious health problem for our society. Empirical analyses often neglect a number of methodological issues and relevant influences on health. This paper investigates empirically whether neglecting these items leads to systematically different estimates. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, this study derives the following results. (1) Many combinations of weight and height lead to the same health status. (2) The relationship between health and body mass index is nonlinear. (3) Underweight strengthens individual health and severe obesity has a clear negative impact on health status. Underweight women are more affected than men but obese men are hit harder than women. (4) The hypothesis has to be rejected that weight has an exogenous influence on health. (5) A worse health status is linked with weight fluctuations and deviations between desired and actual working hours. (6) A healthy diet and long but not too long sleeping contribute to a good health status. Moreover, a good parental education and a high parental social status act favorably on health as does personal high income. (7) Four of the big five components of personality, namely openness, extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness, contribute to resilience against health problems.
AB - Many studies have shown that obesity is a serious health problem for our society. Empirical analyses often neglect a number of methodological issues and relevant influences on health. This paper investigates empirically whether neglecting these items leads to systematically different estimates. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, this study derives the following results. (1) Many combinations of weight and height lead to the same health status. (2) The relationship between health and body mass index is nonlinear. (3) Underweight strengthens individual health and severe obesity has a clear negative impact on health status. Underweight women are more affected than men but obese men are hit harder than women. (4) The hypothesis has to be rejected that weight has an exogenous influence on health. (5) A worse health status is linked with weight fluctuations and deviations between desired and actual working hours. (6) A healthy diet and long but not too long sleeping contribute to a good health status. Moreover, a good parental education and a high parental social status act favorably on health as does personal high income. (7) Four of the big five components of personality, namely openness, extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness, contribute to resilience against health problems.
KW - Body-mass index
KW - Endogeneity
KW - Gender
KW - Health
KW - Income
KW - Individual personality
KW - Parental social status
KW - Sleeping
KW - Smoking
KW - Sporting
KW - Working hours
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85016077709&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ehb.2017.03.001
DO - 10.1016/j.ehb.2017.03.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 28343116
AN - SCOPUS:85016077709
VL - 26
SP - 96
EP - 111
JO - Economics and human biology
JF - Economics and human biology
SN - 1570-677X
ER -