Height, Wealth, and Longevity in 19th century East Belgium

peer reviewed ; Epidemiologists and demographers have long suspected that childhood experiences affect mortality at later ages, but it has been very difficult to separate the persistent effects of early life conditions from other determinants of health. Individuals raised in poor families are more likely to be economically deprived in adulthood, and poor health can cause lower socio-economic achievement. We use life histories from a 19th century community to identify the long-term effects of deprivation in childhood. Heights derived from military conscription examinations provide a summary mea... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Alter, George
Neven, Muriel
Oris, Michel
Dokumenttyp: journal article
Erscheinungsdatum: 2004
Verlag/Hrsg.: Belin
Schlagwörter: Height / Mortality / Marriage / Arts & humanities / History / Arts & sciences humaines / Histoire
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27372441
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/261964

peer reviewed ; Epidemiologists and demographers have long suspected that childhood experiences affect mortality at later ages, but it has been very difficult to separate the persistent effects of early life conditions from other determinants of health. Individuals raised in poor families are more likely to be economically deprived in adulthood, and poor health can cause lower socio-economic achievement. We use life histories from a 19th century community to identify the long-term effects of deprivation in childhood. Heights derived from military conscription examinations provide a summary measure of childhood experiences of nutrition and disease. We find a complex pattern of relationships between wealth, height, marriage, and mortality across the life course. Parental wealth was related to height, which in turn affected the likelihood that a man would marry. Height and wealth in adulthood were strongly related to survival in old age in earlier cohorts, but this relationship weakened after 1850. ; Les épidémiologistes et les démographes ont pendant longtemps suspecté les conditions de vie et de maladie au cours de l'enfance d'influencer la mortalité ultérieure, mais il a été difficile de faire la part entre les effets de ces conditions et les autres facteurs s'exerçant sur la santé. Les enfants élevés dans les familles pauvres connaissent plus fréquemment que les autres une situation économique très difficile au cours de leur âge adulte mais une mauvaise santé peut conduire à des difficultés socio-économiques. Un suivi longitudinal des membres d'une communauté du xixe siècle permet ici d'identifier les effets de long terme des privations au cours des premières années de vie. La taille, appréciée lors du conseil de révision, fournit un indice des conditions de nutrition et de morbidité de l'enfance. Il ressort de l'analyse des relations complexes entre la richesse, la taille, le mariage et la mortalité tout au long de la vie. L'aisance des parents est corrélée avec la taille des enfants qui affecte à son tour la ...