Can resource dilution explain differences in height by birth order and family size? A study of 389,287 male recruits in twentieth-century Netherlands

Abstract

‘Resource dilution’ has been invoked as a possible mechanism to explain the inverse relation between sibship size and sibling heights in European populations (Öberg, 2015). Alternative explanations include confounding of the relation by other measured or unmeasured family characteristics including socio-economic position or birth order. It is difficult to quantify the contribution of any factor in isolation. To examine the question, we accessed data from the national birth cohort of 389,287 Dutch conscripts born in 1944–1947 and examined for military service at age 18. The records include all men of Dutch nationality born between January 1, 1944 and December 31, 1947 examined for military service in the Netherlands. The birth cohorts provide a well-defined study population to reliably assess the impact of family size and birth order on adult height, accounting for potential confounders. The cohorts include a large number of high-parity families, provide reliable information on both family size and birth order, and differentiate between all birth orders. The military examinations provide reliable information on height for all study subjects and uniform measurements at age 18. We show that recruits from larger families are shorter than recruits from smaller families; that birth order effects are small in relation to family size effects; and that birth order and family size effects are comparable in recruits from higher to lower socio-economic backgrounds. Recruits from higher backgrounds are significantly taller however. Our findings are compatible with a ‘resource dilution’ hypothesis, but our data provide no information on any specific differences in the childhood environment in terms of nutrition, education, or other family behaviours could explain the observed height differences at age 18. Additional studies will be needed to identify what differences in specific family behaviours could lead to changes in height development.

Did family size affect differences in body height in non-urbanized societies? Evidence from the Lemko community in Poland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

“…Thus, the family-size dependence of a household's economy seems to be quite obvious: more children means a greater dilution of goods among the family members. 'Resources dilution' within a household translates into a negative relationship between family size and the height of children (Lawson & Mace, 2008;Hatton & Martin, 2010;Öberg, 2015;Stradford et al, 2016;Liczbińska et al, 2018b). Becker (1993), in turn, opposed the hypothesis of 'resources dilution' along with an increase in family size.…”

“…Bielicki & Welon, 1982;Downey, 2001;Kozieł et al, 2004;Liczbińska et al, 2018). Investment of parental income in numerous offspring, and parental involvement in their upbringing, translates into the dilution of household resources, and ultimately into a decrease in body height with an increase in number of offspring in a family (Öberg, 2015;Stradford et al, 2016). In other words, there seems to be a negative relationship between the number of children in a family and children's body height.…”

Women’s Empowerment and Gender Inequality in Adolescent Nutritional Status: Evidence From the Indonesian Family Life Survey

“…Related to family SES, the share of resources (financial, goods, time, etc.) that a person received may have differed by family composition factors such as birth order and sibling size (Bronte- Tinkew & Dejong, 2004;Bras et al, 2010;Stradford et al, 2016). For this reason, birth order and sibling size were also included as control variables.…”

Testing the conditional resource-dilution hypothesis: the impact of sibship size and composition on infant and child mortality in the Netherlands, 1863–1910

“…The argument is mainly based on the relation between sibship size, income and nutritional dilution, crowding and the higher chances of infection in larger families (Bailey, Hatton, & Inwood, 2016;Hatton, 2017). Yet results are mixed: some studies found a significant negative effect of the number of siblings on the height of individuals (De Keyser & Van Rossem, 2017;Mazzoni, Breschi, Manfredini, Pozzi, & Ruiu, 2017;Myrskylä, Silventoinen, Jelenkovic, Tynelius, & Rasmussen, 2013;Roberts & Warren, 2017;Stradford, van Poppel, & Lumey, 2017), while others found effects which are weak or disappear over time (Beekink & Kok, 2017;Öberg, 2015;Poulain, Chambre, Herm, & Pes, 2017;Ramon-Muñoz & Ramon-Muñoz, 2017). The latter argued that the changing role of sibship size could be caused by fertility decline, the general improvement of standards of living, the development of the welfare state, and improving health.…”