IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Log in (now much improved!) to save this article

Does the promotion of community social capital reduce obesity risk?

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Yoon, Jangho
  • Brown, Timothy T.
Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    We explore whether higher levels of community social capital reduce the likelihood of being obese in the U.S. adult population. We also examine whether this relationship may differ by levels of schooling. Data come from the 2001 to 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and are augmented with a validated measure of community social capital, the Petris Social Capital Index. We find that greater community social capital reduces adult obesity risk, and has a larger effect on persons with more schooling. Social capital affects obesity through the promotion of weight-control efforts.

    Download Info

    If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W5H-525YP5T-2/2/88892f3c2fad588c8d10d04f09b20639
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

    Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics).

    Volume (Year): 40 (2011)
    Issue (Month): 3 (May)
    Pages: 296-305

    as
    in new window

    Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:40:y:2011:i:3:p:296-305
    Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620175

    Keywords: Social capital Obesity Physical activity Diet Schooling Prevention;

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

    as
    in new window


    1. Tomas J. Philipson & Richard A. Posner, 1999. "The Long-Run Growth in Obesity as a Function of Technological Change," Working Papers 9912, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.
    2. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2003. "Why Have Americans Become More Obese?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 93-118, Summer.
    3. Paldam, Martin, 2000. " Social Capital: One or Many? Definition and Measurement," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(5), pages 629-653, December.
    4. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    5. Laporte, Audrey & Nauenberg, Eric & Shen, Leilei, 2008. "Aging, social capital, and health care utilization in Canada," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(04), pages 393-411, October.
    6. Runge, C. Ford, 2007. "The Economic Consequences of the Obese," Working Papers 7261, University of Minnesota, Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy.
    7. John F. Helliwell & Robert D. Putnam, 2007. "Education and Social Capital," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 1-19, Winter.
    8. Scheffler, Richard M. & Brown, Timothy T. & Syme, Leonard & Kawachi, Ichiro & Tolstykh, Irina & Iribarren, Carlos, 2008. "Community-level social capital and recurrence of acute coronary syndrome," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 1603-1613, April.
    9. Kenkel, Donald S, 1991. "Health Behavior, Health Knowledge, and Schooling," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(2), pages 287-305, April.
    10. Farrell, Phillip & Fuchs, Victor R. & Fuchs, Victor R., 1982. "Schooling and health : The cigarette connection," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 217-230, December.
    11. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    12. Anderson, Patricia M. & Butcher, Kristin F. & Levine, Phillip B., 2003. "Maternal employment and overweight children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 477-504, May.
    13. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    14. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    15. Chou, Shin-Yi & Grossman, Michael & Saffer, Henry, 2004. "An economic analysis of adult obesity: results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 565-587, May.
    16. Chouinard, Hayley H & Davis, David E. & LaFrance, Jeffrey T. & Perloff, Jeffrey M, 2005. "The Effects of a Fat Tax on Dairy Products," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt60t1f3tn, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    17. Kim, Daniel & Subramanian, S.V. & Gortmaker, Steven L. & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2006. "US state- and county-level social capital in relation to obesity and physical inactivity: A multilevel, multivariable analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 1045-1059, August.
    18. Scheffler, Richard M. & Brown, Timothy T. & Rice, Jennifer K., 2007. "The role of social capital in reducing non-specific psychological distress: The importance of controlling for omitted variable bias," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(4), pages 842-854, August.
    19. Mark C. Berger & J. Paul Leigh, 1989. "Schooling, Self-Selection, and Health," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 24(3), pages 433-455.
    20. Araya, Ricardo & Dunstan, Frank & Playle, Rebecca & Thomas, Hollie & Palmer, Stephen & Lewis, Glyn, 2006. "Perceptions of social capital and the built environment and mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(12), pages 3072-3083, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.

    as
    in new window


    Cited by:

    1. Salahodjaev, Raufhon & Azam, Sardor, 2015. "IQ and the Weight of Nations," MPRA Paper 66144, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Susan L Averett & Laura M Argys & Jennifer C Kohn, 2014. "Friends with Health Benefits: Does Individual-level Social Capital Improve Health?," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 181-201, March.
    3. Fumagalli, Elena & Mentzakis, Emmanouil & Suhrcke, Marc, 2013. "Do political factors matter in explaining under- and overweight outcomes in developing countries?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 48-56.
    4. Shoff, Carla & Yang, Tse-Chuan, 2013. "Understanding maternal smoking during pregnancy: Does residential context matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 50-60.
    5. Hollard, Guillaume & Sene, Omar, 2016. "Social capital and access to primary health care in developing countries: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-11.

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Access and download statistics

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:40:y:2011:i:3:p:296-305. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Dana Niculescu)

    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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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

    This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.