(applicant's application): This project studies the influence of childhood conditions on health in later life. Use is made of a random sample of births in the Netherlands during the period 1850-1922 (N-6000) to which death certificates and data from population registers and personal cards are added, covering the period from 1850 to 1995. Individual life histories are constructed and used to analyze the effect on adult mortality and height at age 20 (for men only) of the economic position of the child's family between birth and adolescence, of migration during childhood, taking into account regions of origin and destination, and of family circumstances of children during the first fifteen years of their life. The length of time during which children were in advantaged or disadvantaged positions is taken into account. A wide time perspective is applied to study the effect of changes over time in the role played by various early life-conditions. Community-level variables such as prices, and mortality levels are included. Event history analysis with time-varying and fixed community level variables will be applied to analyze these data.
| Alter, George; Dribe, Martin; Van Poppel, Frans (2007) Widowhood, family size, and post-reproductive mortality: a comparative analysis of three populations in nineteenth-century Europe. Demography 44:785-806 |
| Alter, George; Oris, Michel (2005) Childhood conditions, migration, and mortality: migrants and natives in 19th-century cities. Soc Biol 52:178-91 |
| Dribe, Martin (2004) Long-term effects of childbearing on mortality: evidence from pre-industrial Sweden. Popul Stud (Camb) 58:297-310 |
| Alter, George (2004) Height, frailty, and the standard of living: modelling the effects of diet and disease on declining mortality and increasing height. Popul Stud (Camb) 58:265-79 |
| Bengtsson, Tommy; Lindstrom, Martin (2003) Airborne infectious diseases during infancy and mortality in later life in southern Sweden, 1766-1894. Int J Epidemiol 32:286-94 |
