Social Disparities, Uneven Food Environments, and Childhood Obesity

• In Event: 398 - Visual Media Poster Session

Abstract

Children living in rural, lower income and southern regions have greater prevalence of being overweight or obese, contributing to an increased risk of chronic diseases compared to children across the United States. In some rural elementary schools of Alabama, over 50% of children are overweight or obese, compared to 31.8% nationwide. Unhealthy dietary behavior has been considered as one crucial factor causing high overweight and obese rates of rural southern children. Family, school, and community environments are the important settings for children’s health promotion since they may greatly influence children’s food consumptions and eating behaviors. This study aims to assess food environments and to examine the impacts of uneven social and physical environments on childhood obesity. More specially, this research (1) evaluates the overall food environment around elementary schools in the U.S.; and (2) assesses the multi-level food environments and explores the interactions with children’s eating behaviors and weight with a case study of Alabama counties. Multiple data sources will be used, including primary data collected for 690 children at six elementary schools in Alabama as well as secondary data obtained from the Census Bureau, USDA, and CDC. Geographic Information Systems-based spatial methods and Agent-based Modeling will be applied in this research. Research findings can lead to interventions of local leadership to promote a healthier community so that to improve children’s health in underserved regions.

Key words: Social disparity, food environment, childhood obesity, Geographic Information Systems.

Authors

• Yingru Li, University of Central Florida

• Ting Du, University of Central Florida