Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

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

Journal of Public Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Cite this article

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Apfelbacher CJ, Loerbroks A, Cairns J, Behrendt H, Ring J, Kramer U (2008) Predictors of overweight and obesity in five to seven-year-old children in Germany: results from cross-sectional studies. BMC Publ Health 8:171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Artelt C, Baumert J, Klieme E, Neubrand M, Prenzel M, Schiefele U, Schneider W, Stanat P, Tillmann K-J, Weiß M (eds) (2001) PISA 2000: Die Länder der Bundesrepublik Deutschland im Vergleich. Zusammenfassung zentraler Befunde. Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball K, Crawford D (2005) Socioeconomic status and weight change in adults: a review. Soc Sci Med 60:1987–2010

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barros AJ, Victora CG, Horta BL, Goncalves HD, Lima RC, Lynch J (2006) Effects of socioeconomic change from birth to early adulthood on height and overweight. Int J Epidemiol 35:1233–1238

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Biro FM, Wien M (2010) Childhood obesity and adult morbidities. Am J Clin Nutr 91:1499S–1505S

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cleland VJ, Ball K, Magnussen C, Dwyer T, Venn A (2009) Socioeconomic position and the tracking of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness from childhood to adulthood. Am J Epidemiol 170:1069–1077

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ebbeling CB, Pawlak DB, Ludwig DS (2002) Childhood obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure. Lancet 360:473–482

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fend H (2009) Chancengleichheit im Lebenslauf – Kurz- und Langzeitfolgen von Schulstrukturen. In: Fend H, Berger F, Grob U (eds) Lebensverläufe, Lebensbewältigung, Lebensglück. Ergebnisse der LifE-Studie. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden, Germany, pp 37–72

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fowler-Brown AG, Ngo LH, Phillips RS, Wee CC (2010) Adolescent obesity and future college degree attainment. Obesity (Silver Spring) 18:1235–1241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gall SL, Abbott-Chapman J, Patton GC, Dwyer T, Venn A (2010) Intergenerational educational mobility is associated with cardiovascular disease risk behaviours in a cohort of young Australian adults: The Childhood Determinants of Adult Health (CDAH) Study. BMC Publ Health 10:55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gortmaker SL, Must A, Perrin JM, Sobol AM, Dietz WH (1993) Social and economic consequences of overweight in adolescence and young adulthood. N Engl J Med 329:1008–1012

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hagquist CEI (2007) Health inequalities among adolescents: the impact of academic orientation and parents’ education. Eur J Public Health 17:21–26

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heineck G, Riphahn RT (2007) Intergenerational transmission of educational attainment in Germany: the last five decades. IZA Discussion Paper No. 2985. http://ftp.iza.org/dp2985.pdf. Accessed 23 November 2011

  • Heraclides A, Brunner E (2010) Social mobility and social accumulation across the life course in relation to adult overweight and obesity: the Whitehall II study. J Epidemiol Community Health 64:714–719

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Högberg L, Cnattingius S, Lundholm C, Sparen P, Iliadou AN (2011) Intergenerational social mobility and the risk of hypertension. J Epidemiol Community Health. doi:10.1136/jech.2010.130567

  • Kamtsiuris P, Lange M, Rosario AS (2007) The German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS): sample design, response and nonresponse analysis. Bundesgesundheitsblatt 50:547–556

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Karnehed NE, Rasmussen F, Hemmingsson T, Tynelius P (2008) Obesity in young adulthood is related to social mobility among Swedish men. Obesity (Silver Spring) 16:654–658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karvonen S, Rimpelä AH, Rimpelä MK (1999) Social mobility and health related behaviours in young people. J Epidemiol Community Health 53:211–217

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kleiser C, Schaffrath Rosario A, Mensink GB, Prinz-Langenohl R, Kurth BM (2009) Potential determinants of obesity among children and adolescents in Germany: results from the cross-sectional KiGGS Study. BMC Publ Health 9:46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kromeyer-Hauschild K, Wabitsch M, Kunze D, Geller F, Geiß HC, Hesse V, von Hippel A, Jaeger U, Johnsen D, Korte W, Menner K, Müller G, Müller JM, Niemann-Pilatus A, Remer T, Schaefer F, Wittchen HU, Zabransky S, Zellner K, Ziegler A, Hebebrand J (2001) Percentiles of body mass index in children and adolescents evaluated from different regional German studies. Monatsschr Kinderheilkd 149:807–818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuntz B (2011) Education beats social class of origin. Intergenerational educational mobility and health behaviour in adolescence. ZSE 31:136–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuntz B, Lampert T (2010) Socioeconomic factors and obesity. Dtsch Arztebl Int 107:517–522

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuntz B, Lampert T (2011) Educational upward mobility predicts a healthier lifestyle. Parental education, own educational status and health behaviour among adolescents aged 14–17 in Germany. Präv Gesundheitsf 6:11–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurth BM, Schaffrath Rosario A (2007) The prevalence of overweight and obese children and adolescents living in Germany: results of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS). Bundesgesundheitsblatt 50:736–743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurth BM, Kamtsiuris P, Holling H, Schlaud M, Dolle R, Ellert U, Kahl H, Knopf H, Lange M, Mensink GB, Neuhauser H, Rosario AS, Scheidt-Nave C, Schenk L, Schlack R, Stolzenberg H, Thamm M, Thierfelder W, Wolf U (2008) The challenge of comprehensively mapping children’s health in a nation-wide health survey: design of the German KiGGS-Study. BMC Publ Health 8:196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lampert T (2010) Health prospects of children and adolescents: on the importance of social background and school education. ZSE 30:231–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Lampert T, Mensink GBM, Romahn N, Woll A (2007) Physical activity among children and adolescents in Germany: results of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS). Bundesgesundheitsblatt 50:634–642

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lobstein T, Baur L, Uauy R (2004) Obesity in children and young people: a crisis in public health. Obes Rev 5(Suppl 1):4–104

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McLaren L (2007) Socioeconomic status and obesity. Epidemiol Rev 29:29–48

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McLaren L, Kuh D (2004) Women’s body dissatisfaction, social class, and social mobility. Soc Sci Med 58:1575–1584

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mensink GBM, Schlack R, Kurth BM, Holling H (2011) Which implications for obesity prevention can be offered by the KiGGS follow-up study? Bundesgesundheitsblatt 54:290–294

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moreno LA, Pigeot I, Ahrens W (eds) (2011) Epidemiology of obesity in children and adolescents. Prevalence and etiology. Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2007) Pisa 2006, vol 2: data. OECD, Paris

  • Parsons TJ, Power C, Logan S, Summerbell CD (1999) Childhood predictors of adult obesity: a systematic review. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 23(Suppl 8):S1–S107

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Puhl RM, Henderson KE, Brownell KD (2005) Social consequences of obesity. In: Kopelman PG, Caterson JD, Dietz WH (eds) Clinical obesity in adults and children, 2nd edn. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 29–45

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rahkonen O, Arber S, Lahelma E (1995) Health inequalities in early adulthood: a comparison of young men and women in Britain and Finland. Soc Sci Med 41:163–171

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Richter M, Leppin A (2007) Trends in socio-economic differences in tobacco smoking among German schoolchildren, 1994–2002. Eur J Public Health 17:565–571

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roskam AJ, Kunst AE, Van Oyen H, Demarest S, Klumbiene J, Regidor E, Helmert U, Jusot F, Dzurova D, Mackenbach JP (2010) Comparative appraisal of educational inequalities in overweight and obesity among adults in 19 European countries. Int J Epidemiol 39:392–404

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sassi F, Devaux M, Church J, Cecchini M, Borgonovi F (2009) Education and obesity in four OECD Countries. OECD Health Working Paper No. 46. OECD, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Schenk L, Ellert U, Neuhauser H (2007) Children and adolescents in Germany with a migration background: methodical aspects in the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS). Bundesgesundheitsblatt 50:590–599

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider T (2008) Social inequality in educational participation in the German school system in a longitudinal perspective: pathways into and out of the most prestigious school track. Eur Sociol Rev 24:511–526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Serdula MK, Ivery D, Coates RJ, Freedman DS, Williamson DF, Byers T (1993) Do obese children become obese adults? A review of the literature. Prev Med 22:167–177

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shrewsbury V, Wardle J (2008) Socioeconomic status and adiposity in childhood: a systematic review of cross-sectional studies 1990–2005. Obesity (Silver Spring) 16:275–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sobal J (2001) Social and cultural influences on obesity. In: Björntorp P (ed) International textbook of obesity. Wiley, New York, pp 305–322

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sobal J, Stunkard AJ (1989) Socioeconomic status and obesity: a review of the literature. Psychol Bull 105:260–275

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen TI (1995) Socio-economic aspects of obesity: causes or effects? Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 19(Suppl 6):S6–S8

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Toschke AM, Ludde R, Eisele R, von Kries R (2005) The obesity epidemic in young men is not confined to low social classes: a time series of 18-year-old German men at medical examination for military service with different educational attainment. Int J Obes 29:875–877

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tschumper A, Nagele C, Alsaker FD (2006) Gender, type of education, family background and overweight in adolescents. Int J Pediatr Obes 1:153–160

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vereecken CA, Maes L, De Bacquer D (2004) The influence of parental occupation and the pupils’ educational level on lifestyle behaviors among adolescents in Belgium. J Adolesc Health 34:330–338

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

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.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Benjamin Kuntz & Thomas Lampert

Authors
  1. Benjamin Kuntz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thomas Lampert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benjamin Kuntz.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

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

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-012-0523-x

Keywords

search

Navigation