Moving Beyond Race: Explaining Health Inequality Manifested as Obesity in the US

In a series of multiyear projects, the role of the physical and social environment on physical activity and inactivity, smoking, and other behaviors related to obesity are studied. These behaviors are being linked to the patterns and incidence of obesity.

As a first step the research team is linking a vast array of physical and socio-economic environment variables to each individual at time periods linked with the timing of each round of these surveys. A number of studies are underway to explore the role of the physical and contextual environment on physical activity and inactivity, dietary intake patterns, and obesity. The contextual environmental analysis will measure access of respondents to recreation facilities (e.g., private and public facilities, parks, recreation centers, green spaces, and shopping centers), and transportation options (sidewalks, bike paths, public transportation, road network, and transportation density), as well as determine the proximity of road safety hazards and air pollution (car-related and other). The diet-related environmental factors include community design features, eating and shopping facilities, transportation options (e.g., public transportation), crime, and food prices at eating and shopping options. In addition, tobacco, housing, and other price data, costs of living, and other SES measures are being linked on a time-varying basis with other data collected from these adolescents and adults.

The research team is addressing a wide range of studies on socio-economic status, immigration and acculturation, and neighborhood context and environmental factors that affect health. The main goal is to identify specific factors that account for the disparity of health outcomes in minority populations by looking at how socioeconomic, demographic, community, family, and individual factors act or interact to affect overweight, dietary, and activity patterns.

Data for this research come from both the Add Health study and the CARDIA study.