How the economy affects teenage weight
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Authors
Arkes, Jeremy
Subjects
Teenage
Adolescent
Weight gain
Body-mass-index
Overweight
Obese
Underweight
USA
Economy
Adolescent
Weight gain
Body-mass-index
Overweight
Obese
Underweight
USA
Economy
Advisors
Date of Issue
2009
Date
2009
Publisher
Elsevier
Language
Abstract
Much research has focused on the proximate determinants of weight gain and obesity for adolescents, but not much information has emerged on identifying which adolescents might be at risk or on prevention. This research focuses on a distal determinant of teenage weight gain, namely changes in the economy, which may help identify geographical areas where adolescents may be at risk and may provide insights into the mechanisms by which adolescents gain weight. This study uses a nationally repre- sentative sample of individuals, between 15 and 18 years old from the 1997 US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, to estimate a model with state and year fixed effects to examine how within-state changes in the unemployment rate affect four teenage weight outcomes: an age- and gender- standardized percentile in the body-mass-index distribution and indicators for being overweight, obese, and underweight. I found statistically significant estimates, indicating that females gain weight in weaker economic periods and males gain weight in stronger economic periods. Possible causes for the con- trasting results across gender include, among other things, differences in the responsiveness of labor market work to the economy and differences in the types of jobs generally occupied by female and male teenagers.
Type
Article
Description
The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.03.021
Series/Report No
Department
Business and Public Policy (GSBPP)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
5 p.
Citation
Arkes, Jeremy. "How the economy affects teenage weight." Social Science & Medicine 68.11 (2009): 1943-1947.
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.