What are 3 social factors that contribute to the obesity epidemic in America?

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

Cited by (0)
Food, Activity, and Sleep
Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)
Illnesses and Medications
What Can Be Done?
Eating Patterns
Physical Activity
Social Determinants of Health
What are 3 contributing factors to obesity in our society?
What is causing the obesity epidemic in America?
How does social influence affect obesity?
What are the social issues and concerns of obesity?

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Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to describe the social determinants of health influencing obesity for the aged in a community context and based on the perspectives of various stakeholders.

Methods

This was qualitative content analysis study using data from the focus group, individual in-depth interview, and observation. The study population was domiciled in Pakpoon Village, Mung District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, a tight-knit settlement typical of most retirement communities. Data were collected through two focus group discussions, direct observation, and in-depth interviews with 19 participants. Respondents represented key community groups: local nurses and public health officers, elderly residents, family caregivers (family members), and village health volunteers.

Results

The participants shared similar perspectives about the social determinants of health influencing obesity in the aged, which spanned three themes. These were: 1) neighborhood food environment (easy access to unhealthy food, no choice to recruit healthy food); 2) social networks influencing obesity (family affects food choices and prohibitions on exercise; belief, and socially imposed body image perceptions contributing to obesity in the aged); and 3) knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs behind lifestyle choices that cause obesity in the elderly (lack of awareness, personal attitudes, job and familial duties as barriers to engaging in physical activities; over-consumption behaviors lead to obesity in older people).

Conclusion

These three themes were the root causes of obesity in the elderly in Pakpoon’s retirement community. This finding suggests that policymakers and nurses can create healthy environments, both to treat and prevent obesity, by raising awareness in younger generations, providing aging the provision of healthy food choices for older adults, encouraging health care professionals to share knowledge, and by modifying the attitudes and beliefs of both caregivers and older adults.

Keywords

Aged

Community networks

Health services

Obesity

Qualitative research

Social behavior

Cited by (0)

June 21, 1965

JAMA. 1965;192(12):1039-1044. doi:10.1001/jama.1965.03080250017004

Full Text

The relationship between obesity and several social factors was investigated among 1,660 adults representative of a residential area in midtown Manhattan. An inverse relationship previously described between obesity and parental socioeconomic status was also found between obesity and one's own socioeconomic status. Obesity was six times more common among women of low status as compared to those of high status. Furthermore, upwardly mobile females were less obese (12%) than the downwardly mobile (22%). Finally, the longer a woman's family had been in this country, the less likely she was to be obese. Similar but less marked trends obtained for the men. Suggestive relationships between ethnic and religious factors and obesity were also found for both sexes. These findings suggest opportunities for more effective weight control measures through programs specially tailored for populations at high risk.

Full Text

Obesity is a complex disease that occurs when an individual’s weight is higher than what is considered healthy for his or her height. Obesity affects children as well as adults. Many factors can contribute to excess weight gain including eating patterns, physical activity levels, and sleep routines. Social determinants of health, genetics, and taking certain medications also play a role.

Food, Activity, and Sleep

Eating and physical activity patterns, insufficient sleep and several other factors influence excess weight gain.

The conditions in which we live, learn, work, and play are called social determinants of health (SDOH). It can be difficult to make healthy food choices and get enough physical activity if these conditions do not support health. Differences in SDOH affect chronic disease outcomes and risks, including obesity, among racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups as well as in different geographies and among people with different physical abilities.

Places such as childcare centers, schools, or communities affect eating patterns and activity through the foods and drinks they offer and the physical activity opportunities they provide. Other community factors that influence obesity include the affordability of healthy food options, peer and social supports, marketing and promotion, and policies that determine community design.

Genetics

Genetic changes in human populations occur too slowly to be responsible for the obesity epidemic. Yet variants in several genes may contribute to obesity by increasing hunger and food intake. Rarely, a specific variant of a single gene (monogenic obesity) causes a clear pattern of inherited obesity within a family.[1], [2]

Illnesses and Medications

Some illnesses, such as Cushing’s disease, may lead to obesity or weight gain. Drugs such as steroids and some antidepressants may also cause weight gain. Research continues on the role of other factors such as chemical exposures and the role of the microbiome.

What Can Be Done?

Eating Patterns

Healthy eating follows the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americansexternal icon. It emphasizes a variety of vegetables and fruits, whole grains, a variety of lean protein foods, and low-fat and fat-free dairy products. It also limits foods and beverages with added sugars, solid fats, or sodium. See Healthy Eating for Healthy Weight.
Managers of worksites and public facilities can improve the nutritional quality of food and beverages available in those settings. See Food Service Guidelines Implementation Toolkit.

Physical Activity

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americansexternal icon recommends that children aged 3 through 5 years should be physically active throughout the day. Children aged 6 – 17 years need at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. Adults need 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a week. See Physical Activity for Different Groups.
Communities can create or modify environments to make it easier for people to walk or bike to everyday destinations. See Community Strategies.

Sleep

Newborns need 14 to 17 hours of sleep per day. That amount decreases with age; teenagers need 8 to 10 hours of sleep per day, and adults need 7 or more hours of sleep per day. See How Much Sleep Do I Need?

State early care and education systems can promote standards that address nutrition, infant feeding, physical activity, and screen time. See Early Care and Education.
Communities, programs, initiatives, and public health practitioners can work to together to remove barriers to health and achieve health See Health Equity Resources.

What are 3 contributing factors to obesity in our society?

Many factors can contribute to excess weight gain including eating patterns, physical activity levels, and sleep routines. Social determinants of health, genetics, and taking certain medications also play a role.

What is causing the obesity epidemic in America?

Scientific studies often reach conflicting conclusions, meaning many theories are out there, but the preponderance of evidence points to the two causes most people already suspect: too much food and too little exercise.

Social influence present: Individuals had a greater odds of losing weight if their social network contacts were also losing weight. Social selection also present: individuals formed connections with those with similar weight status and who were at a similar stage of weight loss.

Obesity is also associated with social and psychological problems, including low self-esteem, low social competence, lack of adaptation, social isolation, unemployment, low socioeconomic status, and poor quality of life.