Obesity and skill attainment in early childhood
By: John Cawley, C. Katharina Spiess.
Contributors: Spiess, Katharina.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 13997; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 13997.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "This paper investigates the association between obesity and skill attainment in early childhood (aged 2-4 years).  Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study are used to estimate models of developmental functioning in four critical areas (verbal skills, activities of daily living, motor skills, and social skills) as a function of various measures of weight (including body mass index and obesity) controlling for a rich set of child, parent, and family characteristics.  The findings indicate that, among boys, obesity is associated with reduced verbal skills, social skills, motor skills, and activities of daily living.  Among girls, obesity is associated with reduced verbal skills.  Further investigations show that the correlations exist even for those preschool children who spend no time in day care, which implies that it cannot be due solely to discrimination by teachers, classmates, or day care providers"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 7/10/2008.

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available in print.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.