Abstract
There is evidence that middle school transition adversely affects educational and psychological outcomes of pre-teen children, but little is known about the impacts of middle school transition on other aspects of health. In this article, we estimate the impact of middle school transition on the body mass index (BMI) of public schoolchildren in Arkansas, United States. Using an instrumental variable approach, we find that middle school transition in grade 6 led to a moderate decrease of 0.04 standard deviations in BMI z-scores for all students. Analysis by subsample indicated that this result was driven by boys (0.06-0.07 standard deviations) and especially by non-minority boys (0.09 standard deviations). We speculate that the changing levels of physical activities associated with middle school transition provide the most reasonable explanation for this result.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 64-74 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Economics and Human Biology |
| Volume | 21 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 May 1 |
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Keywords
- Arkansas
- Body mass index
- Children
- Middle school transition
- Weight
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
Cite this
Middle school transition and body weight outcomes : Evidence from Arkansas Public Schoolchildren. / Zeng, Di; Thomsen, Michael R.; Nayga, Jr, Rodolfo M.; Rouse, Heather L.
In: Economics and Human Biology, Vol. 21, 01.05.2016, p. 64-74.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Middle school transition and body weight outcomes
T2 - Evidence from Arkansas Public Schoolchildren
AU - Zeng, Di
AU - Thomsen, Michael R.
AU - Nayga, Jr, Rodolfo M.
AU - Rouse, Heather L.
PY - 2016/5/1
Y1 - 2016/5/1
N2 - There is evidence that middle school transition adversely affects educational and psychological outcomes of pre-teen children, but little is known about the impacts of middle school transition on other aspects of health. In this article, we estimate the impact of middle school transition on the body mass index (BMI) of public schoolchildren in Arkansas, United States. Using an instrumental variable approach, we find that middle school transition in grade 6 led to a moderate decrease of 0.04 standard deviations in BMI z-scores for all students. Analysis by subsample indicated that this result was driven by boys (0.06-0.07 standard deviations) and especially by non-minority boys (0.09 standard deviations). We speculate that the changing levels of physical activities associated with middle school transition provide the most reasonable explanation for this result.
AB - There is evidence that middle school transition adversely affects educational and psychological outcomes of pre-teen children, but little is known about the impacts of middle school transition on other aspects of health. In this article, we estimate the impact of middle school transition on the body mass index (BMI) of public schoolchildren in Arkansas, United States. Using an instrumental variable approach, we find that middle school transition in grade 6 led to a moderate decrease of 0.04 standard deviations in BMI z-scores for all students. Analysis by subsample indicated that this result was driven by boys (0.06-0.07 standard deviations) and especially by non-minority boys (0.09 standard deviations). We speculate that the changing levels of physical activities associated with middle school transition provide the most reasonable explanation for this result.
KW - Arkansas
KW - Body mass index
KW - Children
KW - Middle school transition
KW - Weight
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84962283276&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ehb.2015.12.006
DO - 10.1016/j.ehb.2015.12.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 26794273
AN - SCOPUS:84962283276
VL - 21
SP - 64
EP - 74
JO - Economics and Human Biology
JF - Economics and Human Biology
SN - 1570-677X
ER -