Quantifying Socioeconomic Inequality in Childhood Obesity

We use longitudinal data on 11,000 UK-born children to examine the relationship between parentalweight and income children’s overweight across childhood. find that are threetimes as likely be or obese at 14 if they have an parent. Irrespective of theirparents’ weight, in poorest 20% families twice orobese. These relationships persist through childhood, strengthen over time, imperviousto observed behavioural differences groups. This suggests sharedsocial economic circumstances childhood lead emergence stark inequality inchildhood obesity distribution by age 14.