Are All Proximity Effects Created Equal? Fast Food near Schools and Body Weight among Diverse Adolescents

Abstract

Prior research has demonstrated that the proximity of fast-food restaurants to schools is related to higher youth body weight and also suggests that this relationship may be stronger in urban areas. Research also suggests that some segments of youth may be more vulnerable to this relationship than others. The authors investigate the relationship of fast-food proximity to middle and high schools and adolescent weight outcomes, with a focus on understanding intra-urban differences across groups defined by ethnicity and school income. Their results suggest that body weight associations with proximity to a fast-food restaurant from school are not equal for all youth. Black and Hispanic students at low-income and urban schools have higher associations between school–fast food distance and youth body weight, up to four times greater than general distance associations. The authors discuss their findings in light of the complexity of understanding the relationship between retail marketing proximity and weight-related associations among youth, as well as obesity disparities.

Racial/ethnic and income disparities in child and adolescent exposure to food and beverage television ads across the U.S. media markets

“…Further, recent evidence finds that there is a greater adverse effect on diet quality from fast-food consumption among low- versus high-income children and adolescents and among black versus white adolescents (Powell and Nguyen, 2013). Evidence from California also shows that black and Hispanic students at low-income and urban schools have significantly higher associations between body weight and proximity to fast-food restaurants compared to white students at higher-income, nonurban schools (Grier and Davis, 2013). …”

Food and Beverage Marketing to Latinos

“…Five articles examined nutritional content and frequency of food and beverage advertisements (ads) on TV (Abbatangelo-Gray, Byrd-Bredbenner, & Austin, 2008;Bell, Cassady, Culp, & Alcalay, 2009;Castetbon, Harris, & Schwartz, 2012;Fleming-Milici, Harris, Sarda, & Schwartz, 2013;Kunkel, Mastro, Ortiz, & McKinley, 2013), four of which were focused on TV ads to those younger than 18 years (Bell et al, 2009;Castetbon et al, 2012;Fleming-Milici et al, 2013;Kunkel et al, 2013). Five articles focused on food store placement (Grier & Davis, 2013;Inagami, Cohen, Finch, & Asch, 2006;Moore, Diez Roux, Nettleton, & Jacobs, 2008;Powell, Auld, Chaloupka, O'Malley, & Johnston, 2007;Rose et al, 2009), of which two focused on fast-food restaurant proximity to schools (Grier & Davis, 2013;Powell et al, 2007) and three focused on grocery/supermarket proximity to households (Inagami et al, 2006;Moore et al, 2008;Rose et al, 2009). Single articles examined these topics: prevalence of Latino actors and the types of ads or products they advertised during children's TV programming (Bang & Reece, 2003), types of health ads appearing in women-oriented magazines (Duerksen et al, 2005), product preferences among Latino and non-Latino consumers (Moskowitz et al, 2004), and 1 Deemed not relevant if the study did not encapsulate the marketing mix or if the article included Latinos but did not include a comparison group.…”

“…Six articles analyzed RFS placement, characteristics, and availability and quality of food products (Emond et al, 2012;Grier & Davis, 2013;Inagami et al, 2006;Moore et al, 2008;Powell et al, 2007;Rose et al, 2009). Four used individual and neighborhood characteristic data to examine RFS distribution in proximity to homes (Moore et al, 2008), point of grocery purchases (Inagami et al, 2006), and schools (Grier & Davis, 2013;Powell et al, 2007). Two articles analyzed the availability, quality, and/or placement of specific products in supermarkets and smaller corner stores, called tiendas (Emond et al, 2012;Rose et al, 2009).…”

Active school transport and fast food intake: Are there racial and ethnic differences?

“…Fast food restaurants tend to be more concentrated near schools attended by Latino youth, and fast food availability near schools has been associated with greater fast food intake (Babey et al, 2009) and higher BMI among Latino and Black youth (Grier and Davis, 2013; Sánchez et al, 2012). Prior research has observed greater fast food consumption among Latino children than other race/ethnic groups (Taveras et al, 2010).…”

“…Children from disadvantaged and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to use active school transport than their White counterparts (Babey et al, 2009; Martin et al, 2007; McDonald, 2008), and schools attended by Black and Latino students tend to have a greater concentration of fast food outlets nearby compared to schools attended by mostly White children (Forsyth et al, 2012; Grier and Davis, 2013; Kwate and Loh, 2010; Sánchez et al, 2012; Sturm, 2008). Racial/ethnic differences in fast food environments near schools may lead to greater consumption of fast food among racial minority children who engage in active school transport.…”