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Abstract
Researchers working in the fields of family studies and psychology show motherchild
relationship dynamics affect the occurrence of childhood overweight and obesity.
Many of the significant behaviors they identify relate to negotiation and generosity
norms in the household. The primary objective of this study is to test the value of
altruistic and collective models of household behavior using the dictator and ‘carrotstick’
laboratory experiments. We also test exploratory hypotheses relating mother’s
generosity and child’s punitive behavior and mother-child weight and fitness outcomes
using dictator and ‘carrot-stick’ games. The data were collected from 50 mother-child
pairs in Laramie, Wyoming. The children were all eight to 10 years old. The mother’s
completed a survey to measure family attitudes and beliefs around food and fitness. All
of the mothers and children completed a fitness assessment and blood draw to measure
their cholesterol, triglyceride, and hemoglobin levels in addition to the economic
experiments. The data do not support altruistic models of familial utility maximization
as suggested by Becker’s Rotten Kid Theorem. We do find children overwhelmingly
influence mothers’ allocations to maximize child, not household, welfare or utility.
Results also indicate there is a positive relationship between mother generosity for child
junk food the child’s waist circumference. Children who demand punitive behavior in
the ‘carrot-stick’ game were less fit and more likely to be overweight and obese. The
results of this study offer insights into household allocation processes which effect both
mother and child weight and health outcomes.