NEIGHBOURHOOD POVERTY, PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION AND CENTRAL ADIPOSITY IN THE USA: INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATIONS IN A REPEATED MEASURES ANALYSIS

• Published in: Journal of biosocial science 2016-11, Vol.48 (6), p.709-722
• Main Authors: Kwarteng, Jamila L., Schulz, Amy J., Mentz, Graciela B., Israel, Barbara A., Shanks, Trina R., Perkins, Denise White
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipose tissue; Adiposity; Adult; African Americans; Analysis; Body Mass Index; Body weight; Discrimination; European Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data; Female; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Models, Statistical; Neighborhoods; Neighbourhoods; Obesity; Obesity, Abdominal - epidemiology; Perception; Poverty; Poverty - ethnology; Racial differences; Regression analysis; Residence Characteristics - statistics & numerical data; Risk; Risk Factors; Social Discrimination - ethnology; Social Discrimination - psychology; Socioeconomic Factors; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Time; United States - epidemiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0021-9320; 1469-7599
• DOI: 10.1017/S0021932016000225

This study examines the independent effects of neighbourhood context (i.e. neighbourhood poverty) and exposure to perceived discrimination in shaping risk of obesity over time. Weighted three-level hierarchical linear regression models for a continuous outcome were used to assess the independent effects of neighbourhood poverty and perceived discrimination on obesity over time in a sample of 157 non-Hispanic Black, non-Hispanic White and Hispanic adults in Detroit, USA, in 2002/2003 and 2007/2008. Independent associations were found between neighbourhood poverty and perceived discrimination with central adiposity over time. Residents of neighbourhoods with high concentrations of poverty were more likely to show increases in central adiposity compared with those in neighbourhoods with lower concentrations of poverty. In models adjusted for BMI, neighbourhood poverty at baseline was associated with a greater change in central adiposity among participants who lived in neighbourhoods in the second (B=3.79, p=0.025) and third (B=3.73, p=0.024) poverty quartiles, compared with those in the lowest poverty neighbourhoods. The results from models that included both neighbourhood poverty and perceived discrimination showed that both were associated with increased risk of increased central adiposity over time. Residents of neighbourhoods in the second (B=9.58, p