IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v60y2005i9p1987-2010.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Socioeconomic status and weight change in adults: a review

Author

Listed:
  • Ball, Kylie
  • Crawford, David

Abstract

In developed countries, obesity is inversely associated with socioeconomic status (SES) among women, and less consistently among men; whereas, in developing countries, the association is direct. However, the relationship of SES to weight change over time is unknown. This relationship was the focus of the present literature review. It was hypothesized that, compared with persons of higher SES, persons of low SES would show greater weight gain or risk of weight gain over time. A search of electronic databases identified 34 relevant articles from developed countries reporting on studies that assessed the relationship of various measures of SES with weight change over time in adults (there were too few papers from developing countries (n=1) to include). Results of the methodologically strongest studies (those which obtained objectively measured adiposity data and used a follow-up period of 4 years or more) showed that, among non-black samples, there were relatively consistent inverse associations between occupation and weight gain for men and women. When SES was assessed using education, evidence was slightly less consistent, but still provided some support for the hypothesized relationship. However, when income was used as the indicator of SES, findings were inconsistent, although there were fewer studies available. There was little support for a relationship between SES and weight gain for black samples. In the context of the worldwide epidemic of obesity, these findings suggest that in developed countries, weight gain prevention efforts might best be focused on those who are most socioeconomically disadvantaged, particularly those in lower status occupations.

Suggested Citation

  • Ball, Kylie & Crawford, David, 2005. "Socioeconomic status and weight change in adults: a review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(9), pages 1987-2010, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:9:p:1987-2010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(04)00467-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Froom, P. & Kristal-Boneh, E. & Melamed, S. & Gofer, D. & Benbassat, J. & Ribak, J., 1999. "Smoking cessation and body mass index of occupationally active men: The Israeli CORDIS study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(5), pages 718-722.
    2. Lewis, C.E. & Smith, D.E. & Wallace, D.D. & Dale Williams, O. & Bild, D.E. & Jacobs Jr., D.R., 1997. "Seven-year trends in body weight and associations with lifestyle and behavioral characteristics in Black and White young adults: The CARDIA study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(4), pages 635-642.
    3. anonymous, 2001. "Revisions to staff commentary on Regulation E," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue May, pages 306-306.
    4. Jeffery, R.W. & French, S.A., 1996. "Socioeconomic status and weight control practices among 20- to 45-year- old women," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 86(7), pages 1005-1010.
    5. Swan, G.E. & Carmelli, D., 1995. "Characteristics associated with excessive weight gain after smoking cessation in men," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 85(1), pages 73-77.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Barsdorf, Nicola Wendy & Wassenaar, Douglas Richard, 2005. "Racial differences in public perceptions of voluntariness of medical research participants in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(5), pages 1087-1098, March.
    2. Biroli, Pietro & Boneva, Teodora & Raja, Akash & Rauh, Christopher, 2022. "Parental beliefs about returns to child health investments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 231(1), pages 33-57.
    3. Pieroni, Luca & Salmasi, Luca, 2010. "Body weight and socio-economic determinants: quantile estimations from the British Household Panel Survey," ISER Working Paper Series 2010-41, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Suzy Newton & Dejana Braithwaite & Tomi F Akinyemiju, 2017. "Socio-economic status over the life course and obesity: Systematic review and meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Hasselberg, Marie & Vaez, Marjan & Lucie Laflamme, 2005. "Socioeconomic aspects of the circumstances and consequences of car crashes among young adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 287-295, January.
    6. Sirpa Sarlio-Lähteenkorva, 2001. "Weight Loss and Quality of Life among Obese People," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 329-354, June.
    7. Gruber, Jonathan & Frakes, Michael, 2006. "Does falling smoking lead to rising obesity?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 183-197, March.
    8. Chen, Huan & Pang, Jun & Koo, Minkyung & Patrick, Vanessa M., 2020. "Shape Matters: Package Shape Informs Brand Status Categorization and Brand Choice," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 266-281.
    9. Ioannidou, Vasso P., 2005. "Does monetary policy affect the central bank's role in bank supervision?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 58-85, January.
    10. Lhuissier, Anne, 2010. "Introduction - Maigrir : de la terminologie aux prariques," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement (RAEStud), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 91(2).
    11. Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace, 2014. "Weight perceptions, weight control and income: An analysis using British data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 132-139.
    12. Chang, Virginia W. & Christakis, Nicholas A., 2005. "Income inequality and weight status in US metropolitan areas," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 83-96, July.
    13. Hedwig Lee & Kathleen Harris & Penny Gordon-Larsen, 2009. "Life Course Perspectives on the Links Between Poverty and Obesity During the Transition to Young Adulthood," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 28(4), pages 505-532, August.
    14. Johnston, D.W. & Lordan, G., 2012. "My body is fat and my wallet is thin: The link between weight perceptions, weight control and income," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 12/27, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. Bassett, William F. & Lee, Seung Jung & Spiller, Thomas Popeck, 2015. "Estimating changes in supervisory standards and their economic effects," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 21-43.
    16. Qiu, Tian, 2007. "The Adjusted Measure of Body Mass Index and its Impact on Health," MPRA Paper 6270, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Qiu, Tian, 2007. "The Adjusted Measure of Body Mass Index for the Chinese and its Impact on Health," MPRA Paper 25211, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2009.
    18. Judith Cornelisse-Vermaat & Gerrit Antonides & Johan Ophem & Henriette Brink, 2006. "Body Mass Index, Perceived Health, and Happiness: Their Determinants and Structural Relationships," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 79(1), pages 143-158, October.
    19. Rogério Sobreira & Patricia Zendron, 2011. "Implications of Basel II for National Development Banks," Chapters, in: Claude Gnos & Louis-Philippe Rochon (ed.), Credit, Money and Macroeconomic Policy, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Anne Lhuissier, 2010. "Introduction - Maigrir : de la terminologie aux prariques," Review of Agricultural and Environmental Studies - Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, INRA Department of Economics, vol. 91(2), pages 117-125.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:9:p:1987-2010. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.