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Intergenerational educational mobility and obesity in adolescence: findings from the cross-sectional German KiGGS study

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Abstract

Aim

The objective of this study is to analyze the meaning of intergenerational educational transmission and intergenerational educational mobility on adolescents’ obesity risk. In particular, the paper investigates if upward social mobility is a protective factor against obesity for children of lower educated parents.

Subject and methods

Representative data was derived from a subsample (12–17 years, n = 5,111) of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS). Body height and weight were measured in a standardized way. Obesity (>97th percentile) was defined due to the national reference system that is based upon percentiles of the body mass index (BMI). Intergenerational educational mobility was defined as: stable high (parents and participant have high education), potentially upwardly mobile (participant’s education is higher than parents’ education), potentially downwardly mobile (participant’s education is lower than parents’ education), and stable low (parents and participant have low education).

Results

The highest prevalence of obesity was found in adolescents with a stable low education, the lowest prevalence in adolescents with a stable high education. The educational gradient was steeper in girls than in boys. Compared to the “stable high” reference category, potentially upwardly mobile adolescents had no significant increased risk of obesity, while the risk for potentially downwardly mobile adolescents was only significant in girls (OR 2.32; 95 % CI 1.23–4.37). The obesity risk in boys and girls with a stable low education was significantly elevated (1.68; 1.04–2.73 and 3.06; 1.89–4.94).

Conclusion

Parental education and adolescents’ own educational status have cumulative effects on obesity risk. The fact that potentially upwardly mobile boys and girls are not more likely to be obese than adolescents with a stable high education and less often than adolescents with a stable low education can be interpreted as a protective effect of upward social mobility even though health selection might have played a role.

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Acknowledgements

The KiGGS study was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Research, and the Robert Koch Institute. The authors would like to thank David Blane from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, Lars Eric Kroll from the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin and Miriam Schmuhl from the Department of Educational Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, for valuable comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Epidemiology and Health Reporting, Robert Koch Institute, General-Pape-Straße 62-64, 12101, Berlin, Germany

    Benjamin Kuntz & Thomas Lampert

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  1. Benjamin Kuntz
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Correspondence to Benjamin Kuntz.

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Kuntz, B., Lampert, T. Intergenerational educational mobility and obesity in adolescence: findings from the cross-sectional German KiGGS study. J Public Health 21, 49–56 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-012-0523-x

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