Family Ties and Children Obesity in Italy

Crudu, Federico and Neri, Laura and Tiezzi, Silvia (2018): Family Ties and Children Obesity in Italy.

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of overweight family members on weight outcomes of Italian children aged 6 to 14 years. We use an original dataset matching the 2012 cross sections of the Italian Multipurpose Household Survey and the Household Budget Survey. Since identification of peer effects within the family is well known to be a difficult challenge, we implement our analysis on a partially identified model by means of valid inferential procedures recently introduced in the literature and based on standard Bayesian computation methods. We find evidence of a strong, positive effect of both overweight peer children in the family and overweight adults on children weight outcomes. The impact of overweight peer children in the household is larger than the impact of adults.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Children obesity; peer effects within the family; partial identification; confidence sets.
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C1 - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General > C15 - Statistical Simulation Methods: General; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C2 - Single Equation Models ; Single Variables > C21 - Cross-Sectional Models ; Spatial Models ; Treatment Effect Models ; Quantile Regressions; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C3 - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models ; Multiple Variables > C35 - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models ; Discrete Regressors ; Proportions; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I12 - Health Behavior

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