This paper investigates one explanation for the consistent observation of a strong, negative correlation in the United States between income and obesity among women, but not men. We argue that a key factor is the gendered expectation that mothers are responsible for feeding their children. When income is limited and households face food shortages, we predict that an enactment of these gendered norms places mothers at greater risk for obesity relative to child-free women and all men. We adopt an indirect approach to study these complex dynamics using data on men and women of child-rearing age and who are household heads or partners in the 1999–2003 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We find support for our prediction: Food insecure mothers are more likely than child-free men and women and food insecure fathers to be overweight or obese and to gain more weight over four years. The risks are greater for single mothers relative to mothers in married or cohabiting relationships. Supplemental models demonstrate that this pattern cannot be attributed to post-pregnancy biological changes that predispose mothers to weight gain or an evolutionary bias toward biological children. Further, results are unchanged with the inclusion of physical activity, smoking, drinking, receipt of food stamps, or Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutritional program participation. Obesity, thus, offers a physical expression of the vulnerabilities that arise from the intersection of gendered childcare expectations and poverty.
A growing body of literature has focused on the link between objectively-measured neighborhood crime rates, obesity, and weight-related behaviors including physical activity and diet. Through a systematic search of this literature, the current review evaluates these relationships and stratifies by type of crime (violent or property). Searches on PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar retrieved 24 articles on physical activity/inactivity and 19 articles on obesity or diet. Evidence points to neighborhood crime as being positively associated with obesity and physical inactivity. Studies differentiating these associations by type of crime were lacking, although findings suggest that the link between neighborhood crime and physical activity is stronger for females versus males. Fear of victimization is one explanation for this pattern. Limitations of extant studies are explored, and suggestions for future research are outlined. 188 Crime, Exercise, and Obesity Crime, Exercise, and Obesity 203Edward Yu is a doctoral student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is a biochemist by training with research experience in the cell biology of diabetes. His current interests lie in the fields of epidemiology, nutrition, health lifestyles, and area-level characteristics in relation to health. His current research involves developing multi-dimensional scoring methods for nicotine-use behaviors and the social causes of immunity impairments among young adult women.Adam M. Lippert is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado Denver. His research focuses on how neighborhoods and schools inf luence health, the transition to adulthood, and the health consequences of work and family circumstances. His
By using data from wave 2 (in 1996) and wave 3 (in 2000-2001) of the US-based National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we investigated the association between young women's body weight and depression during the transition to adulthood. Respondents (n = 5,243) were 13-18 years of age during wave 2 and 19-25 years of age during wave 3. We used Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale scores to classify young women as never depressed, consistently depressed, experiencing depression onset, or experiencing depression recovery from wave 2 to wave 3. Results from adjusted multinomial logistic regression models indicated that respondents who experienced significant weight gain were at risk of depression onset. Normal weight (adjusted odds ratio = 2.10, 95% confidence interval: 1.14, 3.84) and overweight (adjusted odds ratio = 1.86, 95% confidence interval: 1.15, 2.99) adolescent girls who were obese by young adulthood, as well as young women who were consistently obese during adolescence and young adulthood (adjusted odds ratio = 1.97, 95% confidence interval: 1.19, 3.26), had roughly twice the odds of depression onset as did young women who were never overweight. We concluded that weight gain and obesity are risk factors for depression onset during the transition to adulthood. Policies prioritizing healthy weight maintenance may help improve young women's mental health as they begin their adult lives.
E-cigarette use is more common among certain adolescent subgroups than others and does not appear to be part of a cessation regimen among conventional cigarette smokers wishing to quit. More regulatory and prevention efforts are needed, especially for certain adolescent subpopulations.
People who are chronically homeless are assumed to have higher rates of mental health problems than episodically or new-entry homeless individuals. It is unclear to what extent early-life and current stressors account for this disadvantage. Guided by cumulative disadvantage theory and stress research, we analyze data from a national study of the US homeless population to examine how stressors and coping resources throughout the life course are implicated in differences among homeless people in psychiatric disorders and alcohol or other drug abuse disorders. Logistic regression analysis reveals that new-entry homeless persons are less likely than their chronically and episodically homeless counterparts to have current psychiatric disorders. This is explained by stressors and coping resources experienced in childhood and during adult homeless spells. Alcohol and other drug abuse is common but comparable across the three homeless types and shares an association with selected stress and coping measures. Findings lend credibility to an accumulation of risks perspective, highlighting how past as well as contemporaneous stressors are related to the mental health of homeless people.
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