The effect of the number of siblings on adult mortality: evidence from Swedish registers

Baranowska-Rataj, Anna, Barclay, Kieron and Kolk, Martin (2016) The effect of the number of siblings on adult mortality: evidence from Swedish registers. Population Studies . ISSN 0032-4728 (In Press)

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Abstract

Demographic research has paid much attention to the impact of childhood conditions on adult mortality. This paper focused on one of the key aspects of early life conditions, family size, and examined the causal effect of growing up in a large family on mortality. We used Swedish register data and frailty models examining all-cause and cause-specific mortality between the ages of 40 and 74 for the 1938-1972 cohorts, as well as a quasi-experimental approach that exploited multiple births as a source of exogenous variation in the number of siblings. While previous studies have focused on low or middle-income countries, we examined whether growing up in a large family is a disadvantage in Sweden, a context where most parents have adequate resources and are complemented by a generous welfare state. Overall our results do not indicate that growing up in a large family has a detrimental effect on longevity.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpst20/current
Library of Congress subject classification:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Sets:	Departments > Social Policy
Date Deposited:	05 Aug 2016 11:59
URL:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/67372/

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