The first article on overweight in low-income communities written by Jin & Jones-Smith (2015) exposes socioeconomic variables that influence obesity. This research aimed to evaluate the relationship between family earnings and physical activity and overweight rates of children for 8 different communities divided by race or ethnicity. The study design is expressed in cross-sectional research that gathers information about physical fitness, anthropometric, and sociodemographic information of more than 1.5 million children that are studying in the secondary school obtained from the California Department of Education (Jin & Jones-Smith, 2015). Researchers utilized multiple linear regressions to assess if there is a correlation between low income of families and obesity incidence of children. The study results show that children who live in low-income families tend to have a higher risk of obesity and less physical activity.
The second article by Zhen-Duan et al. (2019) discusses obesity and income relationships in families. The purpose of the research is to explore how mothers and their children impact each other’s diet and physical activity levels. Analysts collected semi-structured interviews with 18 families with children from eight low-income families. The interviews were collected concurrently and analyzed thematically with Max QDA usage, a qualitative data analysis software (Zhen-Duan et al., 2019). Researchers identified two ways how changes emerge: collaborative (abstaining from certain foods) and non-collaborative (individualistic choice of activities and food). In low-income families, lack of information and resource constraints reduce the opportunities to sustain a healthy lifestyle.
The next article, “Built Environment, Physical Activity, and Obesity: Findings from the International Physical Activity and Environment Network (IPEN) Adult Study,” assesses the general scope of problems that influence the obesity level in the middle- and low-income countries (Sallis et al., 2020). The study aimed to identify findings across different researches that evaluate neighborhood environment attributes, physical activity, and obesity relationship. The IPEN cross-sectional investigation was undertaken to provide data on the association of environment with physical activity and obesity status in 12 countries on five continents. The study design aimed to include the data variability in environments, physical activity, and weight status analyzed using generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) (Sallis et al., 2020). Results show that physical activity and control of noncommunicable diseases can reduce the risk of obesity in the middle- and low-income countries.
The article “Predictors of Severe Obesity in Low-Income, Predominantly Hispanic/Latino Children: The Texas Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration Study” reviews variables that trigger obesity in children of low-income families (Salahuddin et al., 2017). The purpose of the study was to detect factors that predict obesity in children in Texas. Researchers created a study design to analyze data from 517 children in a cross-sectional assessment through self-administered surveys gathered in Texas (Salahuddin et al., 2017). The data were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression models. They showed that large-for-gestational-age and severe maternal obesity are variables that can influence obesity among children in low-income families.
The article by Kim & Knesebeck (2018) presents an overview of the obesity relationship with families’ low income. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between income and obesity by evaluating social causation and the opposite causality. Researchers used a literature search and meta-analytic methods to analyze 21 studies (14 studies on causation and seven studies on the reverse basis). The data investigation applied “random-effect models, and the quality of studies was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale” (Kim & Knesebeck, 2018). It was found that reverse causality indicates a consistent association between obesity and subsequent income that should be examined because obesity is the cause of diseases and deterioration of a healthy lifestyle.
References
Jin, Y., & Jones-Smith, J. C. (2015). Associations between family income and children’s physical fitness and obesity in California, 2010-2012. Preventing chronic disease, 12, E17.
Kim T. & Knesebeck, O. (2018). Income and obesity: What is the direction of the relationship? A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open, 8, e019862. Web.
Salahuddin, M., Pérez, A., Ranjit, N., Kelder, S. H., Barlow, S. E., Pont, S. J., Butte, N. F., & Hoelscher, D. M. (2017). Predictors of severe obesity in low-income, predominantly Hispanic/Latino children: The Texas childhood obesity research demonstration study. Preventing chronic disease, 14, E141.
Sallis, J., Cerin, E., Kerr, J., Adams, M., Sugiyama, T., Christiansen, L., Schipperijn, J., Rachel Davey, R., Salvo, D., Frank, L., Bourdeaudhuij, I., Neville Owen, N. (2020). Built environment, physical activity, and obesity: findings from the International Physical Activity and Environment Network (IPEN) Adult study. Annual Review of Public Health, 41(1), 119-139.
Zhen-Duan, J., Engebretsen, B., & Laroche, H. H. (2019). Diet and physical activity changes among low-income families: perspectives of mothers and their children. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 14(1), 1658700.