577 - Thematic Session. Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Childhood Obesity

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

In the United States, the prevalence of overweight and obese children has quadrupled during the past 25 years. The increase in the prevalence of obesity has led to its classification as one of the most serious public health problems of this century. Obesity has been linked to a number of serious health conditions and some have predicted that it may even lead to decreased life expectancy for current and future generations of Americans. In the United States, body weight is higher among individuals with lower levels of education, particularly women and children. Thus the obesity epidemic is likely to widen disparities in health and longevity in the future.
For children, socioeconomic disadvantage is thought to raise the risk of obesity through various mechanisms in the children’s homes, neighborhoods, and schools. But research is just beginning to evaluate these ideas empirically. Much of this work seeks to identify which particular aspects of disadvantage influence obesity and why. Some research explores the role of neighborhood disadvantage (e.g., the effects of food deserts and built-environments). Others have been exploring how low family socioeconomic status translates into poorer nutrition, lower physical activity, and heavier children, whether through low parental education, poverty, food insecurity, or something else. Still others have been exploring exceptions to the expected socioeconomic gradient, whereby children in some contexts appear to gain weight as affluence increases.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizers

• Jennifer Van Hook, Pennsylvania State University

• Joanna Dreby, State University of New York-Albany

Individual Presentations

• Parental Employment, Work Patterns, and Income and Children's Weight - Molly A. Martin, Pennsylvania State University

• Maternal Education and Children's Weight in Latin America: Variatin across Nutritional Contexts - David P. Baker, Pennsylvania State University

• Neighborhood Disadvantage and Children's Weight Trajectories - Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, Rice University

• Childhood Obesity: Cultural and Biocultural Perspectives - Alexandra Brewis, Arizona State University

Discussant

• Abigail C. Saguy, University of California-Los Angeles