G. Honda, SHORT TAILORS AND SICKLY BUDDHIST PRIESTS - BIRTH-ORDER AND HOUSEHOLDEFFECTS ON CLASS AND HEALTH IN JAPAN, 1893-1943, Continuity and change, 11, 1996, pp. 273
This study of 20-year-old youths recruited into the military suggests
that household members in early-twentieth-century rural Japan tended t
o be similarly educated but to hold diverse occupations. This resulted
in little social mobility through education, and produced stable hous
eholds which perpetuated themselves by spreading occupational, hence e
conomic, risk among their members. The status of one's household withi
n the community influenced educational attainment, whereas one's birth
order within the household mattered more in choice of occupation. Bir
th order and occupation may have also affected physical wellbeing. Fir
st-born sons tended to enjoy good health and tall stature relative to
their later-born and illegitimate counterparts. Short stature was also
associated with craftsmen, possibly because of their low socioeconomi
c status, the repetitive and sedentary nature of their work, or the fa
ct that many later-born sons, who tended to be shorter, went into craf
twork.