Does More Money Make You Fat? The Effects of Quasi-Experimental Income Transfers on Adolescent and Young Adult Obesity

This paper examines how exogenous income transfers during adolescence affect contemporaneous body mass index (BMI) measures and young adult obesity rates using evidence from the Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth. The effects of extra income differ depending on the households’ initial socio-economic status, tracing out an inverted U-shaped relationship between initial income and BMI. Youths who resided in families that had high pre-treatment annual incomes experience no change in young adult obesity rates as a result of the income transfers, while the BMI of poorer children increases. Part of this effect is due to differential increases in height, as well as weight. An exogenous annual transfer of $4,000 per adult family member results in an almost 4 cm gain in height-for-age. Adolescents coming from worse-off households experience an increase in weight only, without the corresponding change in height. The cumulative effects of the increase in household income persist for several years into young adulthood.obesity, health, cash transfer, adolescents, indigenous peoples

Parents’ Incomes and Children’s Outcomes: A Quasi-Experiment

Identifying the effect of parental incomes on child outcomes is difficult due to the correlation of unobserved ability, education levels and income. Previous research has relied on the use of instrumental variables to identify the effect of a change in household income on the young adult outcomes of the household’s children. In this research, we examine the role that an exogenous increase in household incomes due to a government transfer unrelated to household characteristics plays in the long run outcomes for children in affected households. We find that children who are in households affected by the cash transfer program have higher levels of education in their young adulthood and a lower incidence of criminality for minor offenses. These effects differ by initial household poverty status as is expected. Second, we explore two possible mechanisms through which this exogenous increase in household income affects the long run outcomes of children – parental time (quantity) and parental quality. Parental quality and child interactions show a marked improvement while changes in parental time with child does not appear to matter.quasi-experiment, criminality, cash transfer programs, difference-in-differences, educational attainment, panel data

Does more money make you fat? The effects of quasi-experimental income transfers on adolescent and young adult obesity

This paper examines how exogenous income transfers during adolescence affect contemporaneous body mass index (BMI) measures and young adult obesity rates using evidence from the Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth. The effects of extra income differ depending on the households' initial socio-economic status, tracing out an inverted U-shaped relationship between initial income and BMI. Youths who resided in families that had high pre-treatment annual incomes experience no change in young adult obesity rates as a result of the income transfers, while the BMI of poorer children increases. Part of this effect is due to differential increases in height, as well as weight. An exogenous annual transfer of $4,000 per adult family member results in an almost 4 cm gain in height-for-age. Adolescents coming from worse-off households experience an increase in weight only, without the corresponding change in height. The cumulative effects of the increase in household income persist for several years into young adulthood

Parents' incomes and children's outcomes: a quasi-experiment

Identifying the effect of parental incomes on child outcomes is difficult due to the correlation of unobserved ability, education levels and income. Previous research has relied on the use of instrumental variables to identify the effect of a change in household income on the young adult outcomes of the household´s children. In this research, we examine the role that an exogenous increase in household incomes due to a government transfer unrelated to household characteristics plays in the long run outcomes for children in affected households. We find that children who are in households affected by the cash transfer program have higher levels of education in their young adulthood and a lower incidence of criminality for minor offenses. These effects differ by initial household poverty status as is expected. Second, we explore two possible mechanisms through which this exogenous increase in household income affects the long run outcomes of children - parental time (quantity) and parental quality. Parental quality and child interactions show a marked improvement while changes in parental time with child does not appear to matter

Diagnostic specificity and nonspecificity in the dimensions of preschool psychopathology

The appropriateness of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) nosology for classifying preschool mental health disturbances continues to be debated. To inform this debate, we investigate whether preschool psychopathology shows differentiation along diagnostically specific lines when DSM-IV symptoms are aggregated statistically

Longitudinal Patterns of Anxiety From Childhood to Adulthood: The Great Smoky Mountains Study

The aims of this study were twofold: 1) to provide a brief introduction to the prospective, longitudinal Great Smoky Mountains Study and review recent findings; and 2) to use this sample to conduct an epidemiologic analysis of common childhood anxiety disorders

Adult Diagnostic and Functional Outcomes of DSM-5 Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder

Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder is a new disorder for DSM-5 that is uncommon and frequently co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders. Here, we test whether meeting diagnostic criteria for this disorder in childhood predicts adult diagnostic and functional outcomes

Are children and adolescents with food allergies at increased risk for psychopathology?

Living with food allergy is a unique and potentially life-threatening stressor that requires constant vigilance to food-related stimuli, but little is known about whether adolescents with food allergies are at increased risk for psychopathology—concurrently and over time

Perceived Family Impact of Preschool Anxiety Disorders

We examined the perceived impact of child anxiety disorders on family functioning, because such impact is a key predictor of mental health service receipt. Additionally, we examined the relative impact of preschool anxiety compared to other early childhood disorders, and whether this impact persisted after accounting for the effects of comorbidity, or varied by child age and sex

C-reactive protein and substance use disorders in adolescence and early adulthood: A prospective analysis

Dysregulated immune function and elevated inflammation markers are seen in adults with chronic diseases, including some psychiatric disorders, but evidence on inflammation in the case of drug abuse is conflicting