Abstract
Dwelling in a violence-plagued neighborhood may amplify obesity by engendering psychological distress or by cultivating a sedentary, homebound lifestyle. This relationship is speculated to be especially relevant for black and Hispanic citizens because they are much more likely than whites to live in violence-beleaguered neighborhoods. Results from two multilevel analyses of 12,645 residents living in 34 New York City neighborhoods show that, while the violent crime rate does not have a direct effect on obesity, it does condition the relationships between race, ethnicity, and obesity. As the violent crime rate rises in a neighborhood, the probability of both a black and Hispanic resident being obese increases, controlling for both individual and neighborhood factors. The BMI of black and Hispanic residents is also higher in neighborhoods beset by violence. These findings suggest that violent crime may be a salient but unappreciated factor in explaining both racial and ethnic differences in obesity.
Highlights
Research examining the differential access to various resources along racial and ethnic lines is ubiquitous
If the violence rate does condition the effect of race and ethnicity on obesity, we would expect the violent crime rate to influence the black–white and Hispanic–white BMI differentials in the positive direction across the
Hispanics and whites grows progressively larger. One can interpret these findings, when coupled with the results reported in Table 3 for the dichotomous measure of obesity, as compelling evidence supporting the assertion that violent crime is an important factor in explicating both racial and ethnic differences in obesity
Summary
Research examining the differential access to various resources along racial and ethnic lines is ubiquitous. Certain things are universally recognized; for example, black and Hispanic citizens are disparately impacted by the availability of supermarkets, healthy food sources, park areas, and walking trails Such issues of environmental justice can have an obvious impact on health (Hilmers et al 2012; Taylor et al 2006). Blacks and Hispanics have higher infant death mortality rates and are more likely to be a victim of homicide and homicide by discharge of a firearm (Xu et al 2018) Considering this reality, it is not surprising that blacks and Hispanics are and disproportionately represented among the obese compared to non-Hispanic whites (National Center for Health Statistics 2018). The number of adult Americans who are considered obese is expected to increase from 35% to around 42% by 2030 (Finkelstein et al 2012)
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