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Links Between Poverty and Obesity Through the Life Course into Young Adulthood
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Links Between Poverty and Obesity Through the Life Course into Young Adulthood
Kathleen Mullan Harris, Hedwig Lee and Penny Gordon-Larsen
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Abstract
Increasing obesity rates among Americans is a serious issue in the United States, especially among
younger populations. A growing body of research has investigated the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity. However, most of this research focuses on adults. The research that does focus on children and adolescents, if nationally representative, investigates the relationship between SES and obesity at one point in time. Further, this research finds inconsistent results due to different measures of SES used, as well as differing ways in which obesity is measured. There has also been very little nationally representative research, which specifically looks at the relationship between poverty and obesity in children and adolescents over time. This paper investigates the relationship between family poverty status and obesity status in adolescence over time and into young adulthood using three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and multinomial logistic regression. In addition, this paper models possible mediating mechanisms, stemming from economic, sociological and nutrition-based theories that help to explain the links between poverty and obesity. The argument of this article is that research that investigates the empirical relationship between obesity and poverty status must go beyond simply measuring poverty status but also include measures that capture the experience of poverty, which better explain what it is about poverty that causes obesity in the U.S. This analysis finds factors that describe family context for adolescents significantly affect their obesity status later in life (roughly six year later). Family poverty status, maternal full-time work status and neighborhood poverty have enduring effects on adolescents’ obesity status as they move into young adulthood.
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Links Between Poverty and Obesity Through the Life Course into Young Adulthood
Kathleen Mullan Harris, Hedwig Lee and Penny Gordon-Larsen
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Abstract
Increasing obesity rates among Americans is a serious issue in the United States, especially among
younger populations. A growing body of research has investigated the relationship between
socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity. However, most of this research focuses on adults. The research
that does focus on children and adolescents, if nationally representative, investigates the relationship
between SES and obesity at one point in time. Further, this research finds inconsistent results due to
different measures of SES used, as well as differing ways in which obesity is measured. There has also
been very little nationally representative research, which specifically looks at the relationship between
poverty and obesity in children and adolescents over time. This paper investigates the relationship
between family poverty status and obesity status in adolescence over time and into young adulthood using
three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and multinomial
logistic regression. In addition, this paper models possible mediating mechanisms, stemming from
economic, sociological and nutrition-based theories that help to explain the links between poverty and
obesity. The argument of this article is that research that investigates the empirical relationship between
obesity and poverty status must go beyond simply measuring poverty status but also include measures that
capture the experience of poverty, which better explain what it is about poverty that causes obesity in the
U.S. This analysis finds factors that describe family context for adolescents significantly affect their
obesity status later in life (roughly six year later). Family poverty status, maternal full-time work status
and neighborhood poverty have enduring effects on adolescents’ obesity status as they move into young
adulthood.
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