IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/44y2012i21p2667-2677.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity: a nonparametric analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Oluyemisi Kuku
  • Steven Garasky
  • Craig Gundersen

Abstract

Childhood obesity and food insecurity are major public health concerns in the United States and other developed countries. Research on the relationship between the two has provided mixed results across a variety of data sets and empirical methods. Common throughout this research, however, is the use of parametric frameworks for empirical analyses. This study moves beyond parametric methods by examining the relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity among low-income children with nonparametric regression techniques. We examine data from the Child Development Supplement (CDS) of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), a nationally representative data set from the US. Consistent with recent work, our parametric analyses indicate that there is no statistically significant relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity. In contrast, our nonparametric results indicate that the probability of being obese varies markedly with the level of food insecurity being experienced by the child. Moreover, this relationship differs across relevant subgroups including those defined by gender, race/ethnicity and income. Fully understanding the relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity has significant policy implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Oluyemisi Kuku & Steven Garasky & Craig Gundersen, 2012. "The relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity: a nonparametric analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(21), pages 2667-2677, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:44:y:2012:i:21:p:2667-2677
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2011.566192
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2011.566192
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2011.566192?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Youth, 2005. "Preventing Childhood Obesity Health in the Balance," Mathematica Policy Research Reports ce206c664e4e4d95a510b0692, Mathematica Policy Research.
    2. Craig Gundersen & David Ribar, 2011. "Food Insecurity And Insufficiency At Low Levels Of Food Expenditures," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 57(4), pages 704-726, December.
    3. Committee on Prevention of Obesity in Children & Youth of which Robert C. Whitaker is a member, "undated". "Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 655b9b55a39f4db1a879cc8bb, Mathematica Policy Research.
    4. Nord, Mark & Andrews, Margaret S. & Carlson, Steven, 2009. "Household Food Security in the United States, 2008," Economic Research Report 55953, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    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. Dané Coetzee & Wilmarié du Plessis & Deidré van Staden, 2021. "Longitudinal Effects of Excessive Weight and Obesity on Academic Performance of Primary School Boys in Different Socio-Economic Statuses: The NW-CHILD Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Maryia Bakhtsiyarava & Tim G. Williams & Andrew Verdin & Seth D. Guikema, 2021. "A nonparametric analysis of household-level food insecurity and its determinant factors: exploratory study in Ethiopia and Nigeria," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(1), pages 55-70, February.
    3. Davis, Will & Kreisman, Daniel & Musaddiq, Tareena, 2023. "The Effect of Universal Free School Meals on Child BMI," IZA Discussion Papers 16387, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Ian K. McDonough & Manan Roy & Punarjit Roychowdhury, 2020. "Exploring the dynamics of racial food security gaps in the United States," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 387-412, June.
    5. Daniel Millimet & Manan Roy, 2015. "Partial identification of the long-run causal effect of food security on child health," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 83-141, February.
    6. Deborah Schlichting & Ladan Hashemi & Cameron Grant, 2019. "Infant Food Security in New Zealand: A Multidimensional Index Developed from Cohort Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-13, January.

    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. Laura C. Leviton, 2008. "Children's Healthy Weight and the School Environment," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 615(1), pages 38-55, January.
    2. Ariel Chernin, 2008. "The Effects of Food Marketing on Children's Preferences: Testing the Moderating Roles of Age and Gender," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 615(1), pages 101-118, January.
    3. Cawley, John, 2008. "Contingent valuation analysis of willingness to pay to reduce childhood obesity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 281-292, July.
    4. John Cawley & Alex Susskind & Barton Willage, 2020. "The Impact of Information Disclosure on Consumer Behavior: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment of Calorie Labels on Restaurant Menus," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 1020-1042, September.
    5. Arkes, Jeremy, 2009. "How the economy affects teenage weight," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 1943-1947, June.
    6. Cawley, John & Frisvold, David & Meyerhoefer, Chad, 2013. "The impact of physical education on obesity among elementary school children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 743-755.
    7. Jennifer M. Mellor & Ronald B. Rapoport & Daniel Maliniak, 2008. "The Impact of Child Obesity on Active Parental Consent in School-Based Survey Research on Healthy Eating and Physical Activity," Evaluation Review, , vol. 32(3), pages 298-312, June.
    8. Cornelia Butler Flora & Ardyth Harris Gillespie, 2009. "Making Healthy Choices to Reduce Childhood Obesity: Community Capitals and Food and Fitness," Community Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 114-122, June.
    9. Maoyong Fan & Yanhong Jin, 2014. "Do Neighborhood Parks and Playgrounds Reduce Childhood Obesity?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(1), pages 26-42.
    10. Dominick, Gregory M. & Saunders, Ruth P. & Dowda, Marsha & Kenison, Kelli & Evans, Alexandra E., 2014. "Effects of a structural intervention and implementation on physical activity among youth in residential children's homes," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 72-79.
    11. Amy B. Jordan & Thomas N. Robinson, 2008. "Children, Television Viewing, and Weight Status: Summary and Recommendations from an Expert Panel Meeting," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 615(1), pages 119-132, January.
    12. Trogdon, Justin G. & Nonnemaker, James & Pais, Joanne, 2008. "Peer effects in adolescent overweight," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1388-1399, September.
    13. Ou Yang & Peter Sivey & Andrea M. de Silva & Anthony Scott, 2020. "Parents' Demand for Sugar Sweetened Beverages for Their Pre‐School Children: Evidence from a Stated‐Preference Experiment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(2), pages 480-504, March.
    14. Fahey, Tony & Delaney, Liam & Gannon, Brenda, 2005. "School Children and Sport in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BMI182.
    15. Datar, Ashlesha, 2017. "The more the heavier? Family size and childhood obesity in the U.S," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 143-151.
    16. Peltzer, Samia & Hellstern, Marc & Genske, Anna & Jünger, Saskia & Woopen, Christiane & Albus, Christian, 2020. "Health literacy in persons at risk of and patients with coronary heart disease: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    17. Ronette R. Briefel & Denise M. Deming & Kathleen C. Reidy, 2015. "Parents' Perceptions and Adherence to Children's Diet and Activity Recommendations: The 2008 Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study," Mathematica Policy Research Reports cb2819361b71499fbc422356f, Mathematica Policy Research.
    18. Emily Moiduddin & Nikki Aikens & Louisa Tarullo & Jerry West & Yange Xue, 2012. "Child Outcomes and Classroom Quality in FACES 2009," Mathematica Policy Research Reports b259d300a7764b6496a0c86ea, Mathematica Policy Research.
    19. Cawley, John & Liu, Feng, 2012. "Maternal employment and childhood obesity: A search for mechanisms in time use data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 352-364.
    20. Daniel Millimet & Manan Roy, 2015. "Partial identification of the long-run causal effect of food security on child health," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 83-141, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:applec:44:y:2012:i:21:p:2667-2677. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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.