Food Deserts and Overweight Schoolchildren: Evidence from Pennsylvania

The concept of the food desert, an area with limited access to retail food stores, has increasingly been used within social scientific and public health research to explore the dimensions of spatial inequality and community well-being. While research has demonstrated that food deserts are frequently...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Rural sociology 2009-06, Vol.74 (2), p.153-177
Main Authors: Schafft, Kai A, Jensen, Eric B, Hinrichs, C. Clare
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Arid zones
Body Composition
Body mass
Body mass index
Body size
Body weight
Census Figures
child nutrition
Child welfare
Children
Community Relations
Community research
Convenience stores
Correlation
Deserts
Diabetes
diet-related diseases
Disadvantaged
Economically Disadvantaged
Education
Evidence
Food
food availability
Food security
Geographic information systems
Geographic Location
geographical distribution
grocery stores
Health research
Incidence
Inequality
Information Systems
Life expectancy
Local products
Medical research
Nutrition
Nutrition research
Obesity
Pennsylvania
Poverty
Public Health
Regression (Statistics)
Remote sensing
Retail stores
Retailing
Rural Areas
Rural schools
Rural studies
school children
School Districts
Scientific Research
sociodemographic characteristics
Sociology
Sociology of health and medicine
U.S.A
Vending machines
Well Being
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Summary:The concept of the food desert, an area with limited access to retail food stores, has increasingly been used within social scientific and public health research to explore the dimensions of spatial inequality and community well-being. While research has demonstrated that food deserts are frequently characterized by higher levels of poverty and food insecurity, there has been relatively little research examining the relationship between food deserts and obesity, particularly in rural areas. In this article we use Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques to identify food desert areas in rural Pennsylvania. We then analyze student body mass index (BMI) data along with census and school district-level data to determine the extent to which the percentage of a school district's population residing within a food desert is positively associated with increased incidence of child overweight among students within the district. We find that school districts with higher percentages of populations located within food deserts are more likely to be structurally and economically disadvantaged. Net of these district-level structural and economic characteristics, we additionally find a positive relationship between increased rates of child overweight and the percentage of the district population residing in a food desert.
ISSN:0036-0112
1549-0831
DOI:10.1111/j.1549-0831.2009.tb00387.x