Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Sep;46(3):229-43.
doi: 10.1177/002214650504600302.

Race differentials in obesity: the impact of place

Jason D Boardman  1 , Jarron M Saint Onge, Richard G Rogers, Justin T Denney
Affiliations

Race differentials in obesity: the impact of place

Jason D Boardman et al. J Health Soc Behav. 2005 Sep.

Abstract

This article reveals race differentials in obesity as both an individual- and neighborhood-level phenomena. Using neighborhood-level data from the 1990-1994 National Health Interview Survey, we find that neighborhoods characterized by high proportions of black residents have a greater prevalence of obesity than areas in which the majority of the residents are white. Using individual-level data, we also find that residents of neighborhoods in which at least one-quarter of the residents are black face a 13 percent increase in the odds of being obese compared to residents of other communities. The association between neighborhood racial composition and obesity is completely attenuated after including statistical controls for the poverty rate and obesity prevalence of respondents' neighborhoods. These findings support the underlying assumptions of both institutional and social models of neighborhood effects.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Acevedo-Garcia Dolores. Residential Segregation and the Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases. Social Science and Medicine. 2000;51:1143–1161. - PubMed
    1. Alba Richard D, Logan John R. Minority Proximity to Whites in Suburbs: An Individual-Level Analysis of Segregation. American Journal of Sociology. 1993;98:1388–1427.
    1. Allan Janet D, Mayo K, Michel Y. Body Size Values of White and Black Women. Research in Nursing and Health. 1993;16:323–333. - PubMed
    1. Allison David B, Fontaine Kevin R, Manson JoAnn E, Stevens June, VanItallie Theodore B. Annual Deaths Attributable to Obesity in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1999;282:1530–1538. - PubMed
    1. Allison David B, Zannolli Raffaella, Narayan KMVenkat. The Direct Health Care Costs of Obesity in the United States. American Journal of Public Health. 1999;89:1194–1199. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types