An examination of processes linking perceived neighborhood disorder and obesity

In this paper, we use data collected from a statewide probability sample of Texas, USA adults to test whether perceptions of neighborhood disorder are associated with increased risk of obesity. Building on prior research, we also test whether the association between neighborhood disorder and obesity...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science & medicine (1982) 2008-07, Vol.67 (1), p.38-46
Main Authors: Burdette, Amy M., Hill, Terrence D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Adults
Biological and medical sciences
Body mass
Communal violence
Community
Diet
Distress
Entropy
Environmental Factors
Exercise
Health inequalities
Health inequalities Neighborhoods Body mass Distress Psychological distress USA
Health inequality
Health risk assessment
Humans
Medical sciences
Medical sociology
Medicine
Mental stress
Metabolic diseases
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Models, Theoretical
Multivariate Analysis
Neighborhoods
Neighbourhoods
Obesity
Obesity - epidemiology
Obesity - etiology
Obesity - psychology
Perception
Perceptions
Poverty Areas
Probability
Psychological Distress
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Residence Characteristics
Risk Factors
Social Class
Social Disorganization
Social Environment
Social Problems
Social sciences
Stress, Psychological - complications
Stress, Psychological - epidemiology
Stress, Psychological - etiology
Texas
Texas - epidemiology
U.S.A
USA
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Summary:In this paper, we use data collected from a statewide probability sample of Texas, USA adults to test whether perceptions of neighborhood disorder are associated with increased risk of obesity. Building on prior research, we also test whether the association between neighborhood disorder and obesity is mediated by psychological, physiological, and behavioral mechanisms. We propose and test a theoretical model which suggests that psychological distress is a lynchpin mechanism that links neighborhood disorder with obesity risk through chronic activation of the physiological stress response, poor self-rated overall diet quality, and irregular exercise. The results of our analyses are generally consistent with this theoretical model. We find that neighborhood disorder is associated with increased risk of obesity, and this association is entirely mediated by psychological distress. We also observe that the positive association between psychological distress and obesity is fully mediated by physiological distress and poor self-rated overall diet quality and only partially mediated by irregular exercise.
ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.03.029