Body Mass and Social Class: A Comparison of Finland and Sweden in the 1990s

Rahkonen, Ossi; Lundberg, Olle; Lahelma, Eero; Huuhka, Minna

doi:10.2307/3343091

Cited by 23 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The inverse relationship between BMI and position on the social scale, described above, is typical for societies of the developed world (Rahkonen et al, 1998;Kuskowska-Wolk and Bergstrom, 1993;StamMoraga et al, 1998;Seidell et al, 1995). It must be a reflection of some social-class differences in nutritional habits and/or in certain elements of lifestyles, especially in those related to the amount of physical activity during leisure time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Variation in body mass index among Polish adults: Effects of sex, age, birth cohort, and social class

Bielicki

Szklarska

Welon

et al. 2001

American J Phys Anthropol

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Variation in the body mass index (BMI) among occupationally active inhabitants of one Polish urban center was studied by means of a three-factor ANOVA. The material is cross-sectional and comprises 32,750 men and women aged 22-60 years, examined in five successive surveys between 1983-1999. The factors considered in each sex were: 1) age category, 2) year of examination, and 3) social class. The increase of BMI with age is markedly greater among women than among men. No sustained intergeneration trend towards increased BMI was detectable in either sex. The BMI means rise regularly with decreasing position on the social scale in both sexes, but this effect is much more dramatic in women. The latter finding suggests that the condition of being situated low on the social scale is conducive to growth of fatness with age, markedly more so in women than in men. The absence of a secular trend in BMI means during the period considered contrasts with results reported for a number of other countries. This finding is intriguing, because Poland underwent abrupt and profound socio-economic transformation in the early 1990s.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Variation in body mass index among Polish adults: Effects of sex, age, birth cohort, and social class

Bielicki

Szklarska

Welon

et al. 2001

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Social activity was assessed by the participation or nonparticipation in any association.…”

Section: Outcome Variablementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Across all industrial countries, considerable evidence suggests that people with low socioeconomic status (SES) are at greater risk of becoming overweight and obese than people with high SES. [9][10][11][12][13] Social differences in obesity are reported to be widening in Sweden, particularly among women. 14 However, the mechanisms by which social inequities in health are generated and maintained in particular contexts are not fully understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A life-course approach in explaining social inequity in obesity among young adult men and women

2005

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Objective: To examine the cumulative influence of adverse behavioural, social, and psychosocial circumstances from adolescence to young adulthood in explaining social differences in overweight and obesity at age 30 years and if explanations differ by gender. Design: A 14-year longitudinal study with 96.4% response rate. Subject: Data from 547 men and 497 women from a town in north Sweden who were baseline examined at age 16 years and prospectively followed up to age 30 years. Measurements: Overweight and obesity were ascertained at ages 16 and 30 years. Occupation and education were used to measure socioeconomic status. The explanatory measurements were: age at menarche, smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption, TV viewing, home and school environment, social support, social network, and work environment. Results: No gender or social difference in overweight was observed at age 16 years. At age 30 years, significantly more men than women (odds ratio (OR) ¼ 2.81, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.14-3.68) were overweight or obese. Educational level was associated with overweight at age 30 years, but not occupational class. Both men (OR ¼ 1.55, 95% CI 1.10-2.19) and women (OR ¼ 1.78, 95% CI 1.16-2.73) with low education (p11 years) were at risk of overweight. The factors that explained the educational gradient in overweight among men were low parental support in education during adolescence, and physical inactivity, alcohol consumption, and nonparticipation in any association during young adulthood. The educational gradient in overweight in women was explained mostly by adolescence factors, which include early age at menarche, physical inactivity, parental divorce, not being popular in school, and low school control. Restricted financial resource during young adulthood was an additional explanatory factor for women. All these factors were significantly more common among men and women with low education than with high education. Conclusion: Social inequities in overweight reflect the cumulative influence of multiple adverse circumstances experienced from adolescence to young adulthood. Underlying pathways to social inequity in overweight differ between men and women. Policy implications to reduce social inequity in overweight include reduction of social differences in health behaviours and social circumstances that take place at different life stages, particularly psychosocial circumstances during adolescence.

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“…In particular, people with a lower educational level are also those with a higher BMI. This relationship is one which appears repeatedly in the literature 17,18 and shows that this variable has a decisive influence on any comparison made between overweight and normal weight subjects. In this study we were interested in knowing what part of the differences in BMI might be linked to educational level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

“…Similarly, there exist many data which indicate the close relationship which exists between educational level and BMI 17,18 . For this reason, the influence of this variable was tested in the analyses carried out.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eating habits and attitudes and their relationship with Body Mass Index (BMI)

et al. 2009

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SPAINABSTRACT -Background and Objectives: To study the differences in eating attitudes and habits between subjects of normal weight and subjects who are overweight and to analyze in each group the relationship between these habits and attitudes and BMI, taking gender as a modulating variable.Methods: A total of 191 subjects, 117 women and 74 men, took part in this study. 102 subjects made up the overweight/obesity group and 82 subjects made up the control group. All of them were given a questionnaire comprising 26 items (EAT 26 Eating Attitudes Test) plus an additional group of 10 extra items.Results: The overweight group shows a significantly higher score in mood-related ingestion than the group with normal weight. Subsequent analyses indicate that while in the overweight/obesity group there is a positive correlation between the oral control scale and BMI, in the normal weight control group there is a negative correlation between oral control and BMI. Amongst the women in the overweight group a significant relationship was observed between skipping meals, oral control and BMI. 50.7% of the dieters stated that their attempts to lose weight had generally been followed by an even greater weight increase. Furthermore, 88.5% of the dieters stated that they had been unable to maintain the weight loss in the long term.Conclusions: The results indicate that the same restrictive practices can have different effects depending on the BMI and the sex of the subjects.

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Body Mass and Social Class: A Comparison of Finland and Sweden in the 1990s

Cited by 23 publications

References 15 publications

Variation in body mass index among Polish adults: Effects of sex, age, birth cohort, and social class

Variation in body mass index among Polish adults: Effects of sex, age, birth cohort, and social class

A life-course approach in explaining social inequity in obesity among young adult men and women

Eating habits and attitudes and their relationship with Body Mass Index (BMI)

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