IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v75y2012i1p109-119.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bigger bodies: Long-term trends and disparities in obesity and body-mass index among U.S. adults, 1960–2008

Author

Listed:
  • Ljungvall, Åsa
  • Zimmerman, Frederick J.

Abstract

Increasing obesity rates and corresponding public health problems are well-known, and disparities across socioeconomic groups are frequently reported. However, the literature is less clear on whether the increasing trends are specific to certain socioeconomic groups and whether disparities in obesity are increasing or decreasing over time. This knowledge sheds light on the understanding of the driving forces to the ongoing worldwide increases in obesity and body-mass index and gives guidance to plausible interventions aiming at reverting weights back to healthy levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Ljungvall, Åsa & Zimmerman, Frederick J., 2012. "Bigger bodies: Long-term trends and disparities in obesity and body-mass index among U.S. adults, 1960–2008," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 109-119.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:1:p:109-119
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612002377
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Qi & Wang, Youfa, 2004. "Socioeconomic inequality of obesity in the United States: do gender, age, and ethnicity matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(6), pages 1171-1180, March.
    2. Baum II, Charles L. & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2009. "Age, socioeconomic status and obesity growth," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 635-648, May.
    3. Komlos, John & Brabec, Marek, 2011. "The trend of BMI values of US adults by deciles, birth cohorts 1882-1986 stratified by gender and ethnicity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 234-250, July.
    4. John Komlos & Marek Brabec, 2010. "The Trend of Mean BMI Values of US Adults, Birth Cohorts 1882-1986 Indicates that the Obesity Epidemic Began Earlier than Hitherto Thought," NBER Working Papers 15862, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Roger Koenker & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Quantile Regression," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 143-156, Fall.
    6. Rosen, Allison B. & Stewart, Susan T. & Cutler, David M., 2009. "Forecasting the Effects of Obesity and Smoking on U.S. Life Expectancy," Scholarly Articles 5344184, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    7. Truong, K.D. & Sturm, R., 2005. "Weight gain trends across sociodemographic groups in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(9), pages 1602-1606.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Glei, Dana A. & Weinstein, Maxine, 2023. "Economic distress, obesity, and the rise in pain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    2. Alexandre Lebel & Yan Kestens & Christelle Clary & Sherri Bisset & S V Subramanian, 2014. "Geographic Variability in the Association between Socioeconomic Status and BMI in the USA and Canada," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(6), pages 1-11, June.
    3. Ljungvall, Åsa, 2013. "The Freer the Fatter? A Panel Study of the Relationship between Body-Mass Index and Economic Freedom," Working Papers 2013:23, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    4. Rudkin, Simon, 2015. "Deconstructing Supermarket Interventions as a Mechanism for Improving Diet: Lessons from the Seacroft Intervention Study," MPRA Paper 64994, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Zimmerman, Frederick J., 2013. "Habit, custom, and power: A multi-level theory of population health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 47-56.
    6. Helen Cheng & Adrian Furnham, 2013. "Personality Traits, Education, Physical Exercise, and Childhood Neurological Function as Independent Predictors of Adult Obesity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-1, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Scott Carson, 2015. "A Weighty Issue: Diminished Net Nutrition Among the U.S. Working Class in the Nineteenth Century," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(3), pages 945-966, June.
    2. Inwood, Kris & Oxley, Les & Roberts, Evan, 2022. "The mortality risk of being overweight in the twentieth century: Evidence from two cohorts of New Zealand men," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    3. Costa-Font, Joan & Fabbri, Daniele & Gil, Joan, 2009. "Decomposing body mass index gaps between Mediterranean countries: A counterfactual quantile regression analysis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 351-365, December.
    4. Karaoglan, Deniz & Tansel, Aysit, 2017. "Determinants of Obesity in Turkey: A Quantile Regression Analysis from a Developing Country," MPRA Paper 76250, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Angela Fertig & Gerhard Glomm & Rusty Tchernis, 2009. "The connection between maternal employment and childhood obesity: inspecting the mechanisms," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 227-255, September.
    6. Dodd, Mark C., 2014. "Intertemporal discounting as a risk factor for high BMI: Evidence from Australia, 2008," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 83-97.
    7. Emamian, Mohammad Hassan & Fateh, Mansooreh & Hosseinpoor, Ahmad Reza & Alami, Ali & Fotouhi, Akbar, 2017. "Obesity and its socioeconomic determinants in Iran," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 144-150.
    8. Georgia S. Papoutsi & Andreas C. Drichoutis & Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr., 2013. "The Causes Of Childhood Obesity: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 743-767, September.
    9. Daouli, Joan & Davillas, Apostolos & Demoussis, Michael & Giannakopoulos, Nicholas, 2014. "Obesity persistence and duration dependence: Evidence from a cohort of US adults (1985–2010)," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 30-44.
    10. Bimbo, Francesco & Bonanno, Alessandro & Nardone, Gianluca & Viscecchia, Rosaria, 2015. "The Hidden Benefits of Short Food Supply Chains: Farmers’ Markets Density and Body Mass Index in Italy," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 18(1), pages 1-16, February.
    11. Agovino, Massimiliano & Crociata, Alessandro & Sacco, Pier Luigi, 2019. "Proximity effects in obesity rates in the US: A Spatial Markov Chains approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 301-311.
    12. Karaoglan, Deniz & Tansel, Aysit, 2017. "Determinants of Obesity in Turkey: A Quantile Regression Analysis from a Developing Country," MPRA Paper 76250, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Komlos, John & Carson, Scott, 2017. "The BMI values of the lower classes likely declined during the Great Depression," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 137-143.
    14. Athina Raftopoulou & Joan Gil Trasfi, 2024. "Income-related inequality in obesity and its determinants in Spain: What happens beyond the obesity threshold?," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 135-153, March.
    15. Ljungvall, Åsa & Gerdtham, Ulf-G., 2010. "More equal but heavier: A longitudinal analysis of income-related obesity inequalities in an adult Swedish cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 221-231, January.
    16. Classen, Timothy J., 2010. "Measures of the intergenerational transmission of body mass index between mothers and their children in the United States, 1981-2004," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 30-43, March.
    17. Çiğdem Sabbağ, 2012. "Seasonal BMI Changes of Rural Women Living in Anatolia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-12, April.
    18. Deniz Karaoglan & Aysit Tansel, 2018. "Determinants of Body Mass Index in Turkey: A Quantile Regression Analysis from a Middle Income Country," Bogazici Journal, Review of Social, Economic and Administrative Studies, Bogazici University, Department of Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 1-17.
    19. Gomula, Aleksandra & Nowak-Szczepanska, Natalia & Danel, Dariusz P. & Koziel, Slawomir, 2015. "Overweight trends among Polish schoolchildren before and after the transition from communism to capitalism," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 246-257.
    20. Maruyama, Shiko & Nakamura, Sayaka, 2015. "The decline in BMI among Japanese women after World War II," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 125-138.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:1:p:109-119. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.