Goisis, A;
Martinson, M;
Sigle, W;
(2019)
When richer doesn’t mean thinner: Ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and the risk of child obesity in the United Kingdom.
Demographic Research
, 41
, Article 23. 10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.23.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: A range of studies report a robust association between family socio-economic position and the prevalence of child overweight/obesity. On average, children from poorer backgrounds are more likely to be overweight/obese than children from more advantaged families. However, a small number of U.S. studies have shown that, for ethnic minority children, the association is either non-existent or reversed. OBJECTIVE: We test if the link between socio-economic position and child overweight/obesity at age 7 is heterogeneous in the U.K. where rates of obesity are particularly high for some groups of ethnic minority children. METHODS: We use nationally representative data from the U.K. Millennium Cohort Study and we use descriptive analyses and logistic regression models. RESULTS: Poorer White children are at higher risk of overweight/obesity than higher income White children. However, socio-economic disparities are reversed for Black African/Caribbean children and non-existent for children of Indian, and Pakistani/Bangladeshi origin. Moreover, the health behaviours that explain socio-economic disparities in child overweight/obesity for the White group appear to be irrelevant in explaining differences by socio-economic position for the Black Caribbean and African groups. CONCLUSIONS: We should be careful in assuming that higher socio-economic position is protective against child overweight/obesity for all groups of the population. CONTRIBUTION: This study shows for the first time important variation by ethnicity in the link between socioeconomic position and child overweight/obesity – and in the underlying mechanisms linking them – in the UK.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | When richer doesn’t mean thinner: Ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and the risk of child obesity in the United Kingdom |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.23 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2019.41.23 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2019 Alice Goisis, Melissa Martinson & Wendy Sigle. This open-access work is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Germany (CC BY 3.0 DE), which permits use, reproduction, and distribution in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are given credit. See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/de/legalcode. |
| Keywords: | socio-economic disparities; ethnic minorities; child obesity; U.K |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10072319 |
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