Birth order and health of newborns: What can we learn from Danish registry data?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Birth order and health of newborns

T2 - What can we learn from Danish registry data?

AU - Brenøe, Anne Ardila

AU - Molitor, Ramona

PY - 2018/4/1

Y1 - 2018/4/1

N2 - We examine birth order differences in health of newborns and follow the children throughout childhood using high-quality administrative data on individuals born in Denmark between 1981 and 2010. Family fixed effects models show a positive and robust effect of birth order on health at birth; firstborn children are less healthy at birth. During earlier pregnancies, women are more likely to smoke, receive more prenatal care, and are more likely to suffer a medical pregnancy complication, suggesting worse maternal health. We further show that the health disadvantage of firstborns persists in the first years of life, disappears by age seven, and becomes a health advantage in adolescence. In contrast, later-born children are throughout childhood more likely to suffer an injury. The results on health in adolescence are consistent with previous evidence of a firstborn advantage in education and with the hypothesis that postnatal investments differ between first- and later-born children.

AB - We examine birth order differences in health of newborns and follow the children throughout childhood using high-quality administrative data on individuals born in Denmark between 1981 and 2010. Family fixed effects models show a positive and robust effect of birth order on health at birth; firstborn children are less healthy at birth. During earlier pregnancies, women are more likely to smoke, receive more prenatal care, and are more likely to suffer a medical pregnancy complication, suggesting worse maternal health. We further show that the health disadvantage of firstborns persists in the first years of life, disappears by age seven, and becomes a health advantage in adolescence. In contrast, later-born children are throughout childhood more likely to suffer an injury. The results on health in adolescence are consistent with previous evidence of a firstborn advantage in education and with the hypothesis that postnatal investments differ between first- and later-born children.

KW - Birth order

KW - Child health

KW - Fetal health

KW - Health at birth

KW - Prenatal investments

U2 - 10.1007/s00148-017-0660-1

DO - 10.1007/s00148-017-0660-1

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0933-1433

VL - 31

SP - 363

EP - 395

JO - Journal of Population Economics

JF - Journal of Population Economics

IS - 2

ER -