mitigating influence of time preference on the relation between smoking and BMI scores

Objective: Prior studies have found a strong negative relation between smoking and body mass index (BMI). Smoking and unhealthy eating both imply a preference for utility in the present at the expense of future consumption. This analysis seeks to proxy this preference through a composite index of eq...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Obesity 2008-11, Vol.32 (11), p.1670-1677
Main Authors: Robb, C.A, Huston, S.J, Finke, M.S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
adults
Aged
Agriculture
Alcohol
Attitude to Health
Biological and medical sciences
Body Fat Distribution
Body Mass Index
Cigarettes
Diet
dietary surveys
Epidemiology
Evidence-Based Medicine
Female
Females
Health aspects
Health Behavior
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
human behavior
Humans
Internal Medicine
Least-Squares Analysis
Male
Medical sciences
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Metabolic Diseases
Middle Aged
Nutrition research
Obesity
Obesity - metabolism
Obesity - psychology
original-article
Polls & surveys
Preferences
Public Health
regression analysis
Risk factors
Smoking
smoking (habit)
Smoking - metabolism
Smoking - psychology
Social Class
temporal variation
Time
Tobacco, tobacco smoking
Toxicology
Waist-Hip Ratio
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Summary:Objective: Prior studies have found a strong negative relation between smoking and body mass index (BMI). Smoking and unhealthy eating both imply a preference for utility in the present at the expense of future consumption. This analysis seeks to proxy this preference through a composite index of equally weighted intertemporal behaviors to isolate the impact of smoking upon BMI independent of time discounting. Design: Ordinary least squares regression is used to analyze BMI score based on a number of key independent variables. Subjects: A total of 2970 individuals who provided data for the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) 1994-1996, as well as the Diet and Health Knowledge Survey (DHKS). Results: Adding time preference to a multivariate model inflates the magnitude of the smoking effect, consistent with discounted utility theory. Conclusions: Results suggest that full effect of the non-intertemporal aspects of smoking (e.g., the substitution of cigarettes for food) on BMI scores may be underestimated in previous studies that fail to account for the mitigating influence of time preference.
ISSN:0307-0565
1476-5497
DOI:10.1038/ijo.2008.151