Abstract

SummaryUsing a sample of 2090 British father and son pairs the relationships between social and geographical intra- and inter-generational mobility were examined in relation to height, weight and body mass index. There was much more social mobility than geographical migration. Social mobility and geographical migration were not independent: socially non-mobile fathers and sons were more likely to be geographical non-migrants, and upwardly socially mobile fathers and sons were more likely to be regional migrants. Upwardly socially mobile fathers and sons were, on average, taller and had a lower BMI than non-mobile and downwardly mobile fathers and sons. In general, no significant associations were found between geographical migration and height or weight. Migrating fathers had a lower BMI than sedentes, as did their sons who migrated between 1965 and 1991. There was no significant interaction that indicated that social mobility and geographical migration were acting in a simple additive way on height, weight and BMI.