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Do fast food restaurants surrounding schools affect childhood obesity?

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  • Asirvatham, Jebaraj
  • Thomsen, Michael R.
  • Nayga, Rodolfo M.
  • Goudie, Anthony

Abstract

In this study, we estimate the effect of fast food environment surrounding schools on childhood body mass index (BMI). We use two methods that arrive at a similar conclusion, but with different implications. Using school distance from the nearest federal highway to instrument for restaurant location, we find the surrounding restaurants to only marginally affect a student’s BMI measure. The effect size also decreases with increasing radial distances from school, 0.016 standard deviations at one-third of a mile and 0.0032 standard deviations at a mile radial distance. This indicates the decreasing influence of restaurants on a child’s BMI as its distance from school increases. On a subset of students who were exogenously assigned to different school food environment, we find no effect of the fast food restaurants. An important contextual aspect is that nearly all schools in this sample observed closed campus policy, which does not allow students to leave campus during lunch hours.

Suggested Citation

  • Asirvatham, Jebaraj & Thomsen, Michael R. & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Goudie, Anthony, 2019. "Do fast food restaurants surrounding schools affect childhood obesity?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 124-133.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:33:y:2019:i:c:p:124-133
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2019.01.011
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Richard A. Dunn, 2010. "The Effect of Fast-Food Availability on Obesity: An Analysis by Gender, Race, and Residential Location," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1149-1164.
    2. Austin, S.B. & Melly, S.J. & Sanchez, B.N. & Patel, A. & Buka, S. & Gortmaker, S.L., 2005. "Clustering of fast-food restaurants around schools: A novel application of spatial statistics to the study of food environments," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(9), pages 1575-1581.
    3. Davis, B. & Carpenter, C., 2009. "Proximity of fast-food restaurants to schools and adolescent obesity," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(3), pages 505-510.
    4. Dunn, Richard A. & Sharkey, Joseph R. & Horel, Scott, 2012. "The effect of fast-food availability on fast-food consumption and obesity among rural residents: An analysis by race/ethnicity," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13.
    5. Janet Currie & Stefano DellaVigna & Enrico Moretti & Vikram Pathania, 2010. "The Effect of Fast Food Restaurants on Obesity and Weight Gain," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 32-63, August.
    6. Alviola, Pedro A. & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Thomsen, Michael R. & Danforth, Diana & Smartt, James, 2014. "The effect of fast-food restaurants on childhood obesity: A school level analysis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 110-119.
    7. Michael L. Anderson & David A. Matsa, 2011. "Are Restaurants Really Supersizing America?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 152-188, January.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Alaa Ashraf AlQurashi & Dian Kusuma & Hala AlJishi & Ali AlFaiz & Abdulaziz AlSaad, 2021. "Density of Fast Food Outlets around Educational Facilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Geospatial Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-10, June.
    3. Abrahamsson, Sara & Bütikofer, Aline & Karbownik , Krzysztof, 2023. "Swallow This: Childhood and Adolescent Exposure to Fast Food Restaurants, BMI, and Cognitive Ability," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 7/2023, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    4. Atanasova, Petya & Kusuma, Dian & Pineda, Elisa & Frost, Gary & Sassi, Franco & Miraldo, Marisa, 2022. "The impact of the consumer and neighbourhood food environment on dietary intake and obesity-related outcomes: A systematic review of causal impact studies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    5. Chenyang Wang & Zhiping Zhen & Nan Zhao & Chenlin Zhao, 2021. "Associations between Fast-Food Restaurants Surrounding Kindergartens and Childhood Obesity: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-15, September.
    6. Dolton, Peter J. & Tafesse, Wiktoria, 2022. "Childhood obesity, is fast food exposure a factor?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    7. Christian Bux & Alina Cerasela Aluculesei & Simona Moagăr-Poladian, 2022. "How to Monitor the Transition to Sustainable Food Services and Lodging Accommodation Activities: A Bibliometric Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-21, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fast food; Childhood obesity; Body mass index; School food environment; Instrumental variable estimation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

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