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Does Overweight and Obesity Impact on Self‐Rated Health? Evidence Using Instrumental Variables Ordered Probit Models

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  • John Cullinan
  • Paddy Gillespie

Abstract

This paper, for the first time, presents estimates of the causal impact of overweight and obesity on self‐rated health (SRH) using instrumental variables (IV) econometric methods. While a number of previous studies have sought to better understand the determinants of SRH, there is no consensus in relation to the impact of overweight and obesity. Using data from a large nationally representative sample of Irish parents and their children, we estimate a range of ordered probit models to isolate the causal effect of overweight and obesity on SRH. Our data includes independently and objectively recorded weight and height measures for parents and their children and we instrument for parental body mass index (BMI) status using the BMI of a biological child. After controlling for a range of individual, socioeconomic, health and lifestyle related variables, we find that being overweight has a negligible impact on SRH, while being obese has a practically and statistically significant negative impact on SRH, with these effects most pronounced for those who are most obese. We find only minor differences in these effects across gender. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • John Cullinan & Paddy Gillespie, 2016. "Does Overweight and Obesity Impact on Self‐Rated Health? Evidence Using Instrumental Variables Ordered Probit Models," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(10), pages 1341-1348, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:25:y:2016:i:10:p:1341-1348
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.3215
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Edel Doherty & Anne Dee & Ciaran O’Neill, 2012. "Estimating the Amount of Overweight and Obesity Related Health-Care Use in the Republic of Ireland Using SLÁN Data," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 43(2), pages 227-250.
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    8. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Cawley, John, 2008. "Beyond BMI: The value of more accurate measures of fatness and obesity in social science research," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 519-529, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lucas Hafner & Harald Tauchmann & Ansgar Wübker, 2021. "Does moderate weight loss affect subjective health perception in obese individuals? Evidence from field experimental data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 2293-2333, October.
    2. Li, Shuanglong & Chen, Yunsong & He, Guangye, 2018. "Laugh and grow fat: Happiness affects body mass index among Urban Chinese adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 55-63.
    3. Cullinan, John & Cawley, John, 2017. "Parental misclassification of child overweight/obese status: The role of parental education and parental weight status," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 92-103.

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