Living In Poor Localities Can Make You Obese
If you are young and healthy, then do you know how you can enhance your well-being? One simple don't is---do not live in poor neighborhoods!
This interesting study was undertaken by the University of Colorado-Denver, discovering that residents of poorer localities tend to pile on the pounds. It would be better to avoid poor neighbourhoods altogether to maintain a better body.
The study was probed by Adam Lippert, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado. Collecting information from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health participants, it involved 12,164 students from Classes 7 to 12. The participants were followed and examined for 13 years.
"Those who consistently live in poor neighborhoods are more likely to become or remain obese by adulthood than those who never live in poor neighborhoods. Exiting severe neighborhood poverty curtails this risk, while entering and remaining in neighborhood poverty in adulthood increases it," researchers wrote in the study. "These patterns are more pronounced for young women and robust to adjustments for health behaviors and selection bias."
Hence, the study is worrying, as it emphasises the fallouts due to lower income and residential inequalities.
Study results "support accumulation of risks and social mobility perspectives and highlight how previous and current neighborhood contexts are relevant for health," wrote Lippert and his team.
The reasons for the obesity are clear---lack of healthy food options, exercise and more stress. By helping teenagers in low-income neighbourhoods, researchers can help to reduce obesity and increase healthy lifestyles.
"The research demonstrates that the long-term residential experiences of teenagers can affect their life-long health," Lippert said in a university release. "It's encouraging to see that the risk of obesity can be curtailed by moving out of low-income areas."
The findings are published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
