TY  - JOUR
AU  - Cawley,John
AU  - Spiess,C. Katharina
TI  - Obesity and Skill Attainment in Early Childhood
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13997
PY  - 2008
Y2  - May 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13997
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13997.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
John Cawley
3M24 MVR Hall
Department of Policy Analysis and Management
and Department of Economics
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY  14853
Tel: 607/255-0952
Fax: 607/255-4071
E-Mail: jhc38@cornell.edu

C. Katharina Spiess
Free University of Berlin
DIW Berlin
Mohrenstrasse 58
10117 Berlin, Germany
Tel: 49 (30) 89789-254
Fax: 49 (30) 89789-109
E-Mail: kspiess@diw.de
AB  - 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.
ER  -