The study sample for this project was derived from the Framingham SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) Health Association Resource (SHARe, version 6) as available through the NCBI Database of Phenotypes and Genotypes (dbGaP). The analysis for this study focused on the third generation of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) (Splansky et al. 2007). The original cohort of the FHS was first assessed in 1948; nearly 25 years later, the respondents’ children (the G2 sample, n = 3,548) and many of their spouses participated in the offspring cohort study. Then, in 2002, roughly 4,000 adults who had at least one parent in the offspring cohort took part in the third generation (G3) cohort study. This cohort was examined for a variety of different morbidities using clinical and laboratory assessments. Crucially, study participants were measured for height and weight. Table 1 presents descriptive statistics for the FHS G3 sample that we use in our analysis by educational status. Those without a college degree have an average BMI that is 1.44 units higher than those with a college degree (p < .001). This is
