Weighing Inequality: A Comprehensive Analysis of Racial and Gender Disparities in Childhood Overweight and Obesity from 2003 to 2019 Open Access

Abstract

Addressing adolescent obesity and overweight in the United States is a critical public health concern, exacerbated by significant racial and gender disparities that impose disproportion- ate burdens on affected groups. Self-perception of weight may influence one’s actual weight, and seeing how this perception and children’s actual weight has been changing over time is important to understand these racial and gender gaps and their roots. This study in- vestigates the dynamics of gender and racial differentials in both actual weight status and self-perception of weight over the time period from 2003 to 2019. Raw data analyses prove that boys are more obese than girls in every year, and Blacks are more obese than Whites. Regression analyses conclude that Black girls are more likely to be obese than Black boys, and girls in general are always more likely to perceive themselves as slightly/very overweight than boys. Black girls are also more likely to report being slightly/very overweight more than Black boys, controlling for actual weight status. Over time, all groups are becoming more overweight/obese, with the gender gap narrowing for Whites and the Black-White gap narrowing for girls. These findings impose a double burden on Black girls, both in terms of actual weight and misperception of weight. There is a great need for public health interventions to rectify these disparities, perhaps focusing on social media’s influence on self-perception of weight, and in turn actual weight. 

Table of Contents

1 Introduction .................... 1

2 Literature Review .................... 3

2.1 RacialDisparitiesinAdolescentObesity .................... 3

2.2 BlackWomenandGirls ............................. 4

2.3 PerceptionofWeight ............................... 5

3 Data3.1 YouthRiskBehaviorSurveillanceSystem.................... 6

3.2 VariableConstruction .............................. 7

3.3 DataLimitations ................................. 9

4 Methodology................................. 10

5 Results ................................. 11

5.1 RawDataAnalysis ................................ 11

5.2 StatisticalAnalysis ................................ 15

5.2.1 RegressionAnalyses:ActualWeight .................. 16

5.2.2 RegressionAnalyses: PerceptionWeight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

5.2.3 Perception Weight Conditional on Actual Weight . . . . . . . . . . . 20

5.2.4 TemporalChangesfrom2003to2019.................. 23

5.2.5 ActualWeightStatusChangesOverTime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

5.2.6 PerceptionofWeightChangesOverTime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5.3 RobustnesswithEthnicity ............................ 29

Discussion ............................ 31

Limitations ............................ 34 

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Economics
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Economics, General Health Sciences, Public Health Health Sciences, Public Health Education
Keyword	Econometrics Body image Self-perception of weight Obesity Adolescent Racial Gender
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Krzysztof Karbownik, Emory University
Committee Members	Rachel Hall-Clifford, Emory University Samiran Banerjee, Emory University Stefan Hoderlein, Emory University

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