Introduction
The contemporary issue of obesity is worldwide causing not just health, but also economic and social problems. It is becoming ever more concerning issue, since the trend of the obesity rate in the recent past has increased. There has been various researches made so far that examined the issue, but the majority was focused on the health effect that can greatly impact individual and future quality of life or economic issues where every year, more is spend in trying to diminish the rates, but they are focusing on curative not so much in the preventive. The obesity can be prevented only with diminishing the core factors that are responsible for the occurring of the obesity. By almost all factors that contribute to the obesity in the United States improvement can be made. Obesity is a major public health problem affecting adults and children in the United States and it can be caused by unhealthy eating habits and even genetics. The thesis of the paper is that poverty and lifestyle correlate with the increasing rate of obesity and with improving them the rates of obesity would decrease.
Background
Obesity has become a social problem since ever more societies are being affected by it. Obesity has been defined as body fatness and is usually measured by the body mass index – BMI. Obesity of rates has been increasing in the United States and is affecting adults and children at various ages. Around 17% of children aged from 6 to 11in United States are being obese and obesity has increased over the last decades. 8.4% of children younger than 6 were recorded to be obese between 2011 and 2012. The percentage of children being obese between 12 and 19 has reached 20.5%. It is very likely that the children who are facing obesity in childhood will continue to have issues in the adulthood. Between the same years, 69% of adults in the country were overweight and obese and 35 of them were obese (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, n. d.).
Social factors that contribute to the obesity
Obesity is a socially distributed, since certain social groups are more exposed to risk of being obese as others. Sociodemographic difference exists in weight related behaviors. Two social factors that have been identified to have an impact on the obesity will be examined. First social factor that contribute to the obesity researched is poverty and the second social factors that contribute to the obesity examined is lifestyle.
Poverty and social-economic status
Positive correlation between the poverty and obesity has been found. Where the levels of socioeconomic status were lower the higher were the rates of obesity. It has been assumed that obesity and poverty made a vicious cycle. Obese people are less active and are many times unable to work which causes further poverty. The obesity is present among the ones who cannot afford it. On the other side fast food is more available than high nutrition value food and is therefore consumed more in the lower income societies and by the lower income individuals. The limited budget for food is resulting in buying cheaper food and more energy dense food with more sugar, carbohydrates and fats. Low income neighborhoods are increasing further risks of being obese (Petrelli & Wollin, 2009). Children living in low income households are more likely to be overweight and obese, than those from higher social income status. The sole economic status must be observed with social status as well in order to give more valid assessment.
United States have more poverty as other developed countries. There have been differences between the countries and between the ethnicity and race, where blacks and Hispanics are being poorer in comparison to whites. Non-Hispanic whites accounted for around 41.1% of the total population living in poverty. Among the black poverty rate was 26.2% States have different poverty rates and vary from 8.8% to as high as 24.3%. The average poverty in 2014 in the country was at 14.8%, which results in 46.7 million people livening in poverty. Among the poor there were 23.3% of total population children. There is also a difference between genders where the rate of poverty is higher among females. The poverty rates have been stagnating. The region of living plays an important role in the poverty, where the South had higher poverty rates than East, West and North. The residence also shows difference where metropolitan resident had a lower poverty rate as those living outside metropolitan areas. Work experience along with educational attainment also impacts the poverty rate (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2015).
Lifestyle and eating habits
Western lifestyle is one of the causes of the increasing obesity rates. Inactivity with the sedentary lifestyle and insufficient physical activity are independent risks of the obesity and are common in contemporary American style of living. More stress with less time is causing that people to adjust their food consumption and eat prepared food or fast food with low nutrient value, sugars and salt. Another factor in lifestyle that contributes to the risk of obesity is also lack of sleep and is a result of the lifestyle choices. Lifestyle habits such as consumption of alcohol and cigarettes are also one of the risk factors (Dixon & Egger, 2014).
Based on the Gallup survey of 2013 fats food was consumed among the majority of the citizens. Eight in ten were eating in fast food restaurants monthly and half of the population at least once a week. The minority of 4% reported they never eat at fast food restaurants. There are age differences were younger eat more often fast food as older participants. There has been a difference between the ethnicities where blacks and Hispanics eat fast food more often (Dugan, 2013). The statistics data about physical activity that is one of the major contributors of staying healthy in the United States shows that only 21% of the adults meet the requirements of the basic physical activity that is recommended. Among the high school students three in ten get at least one hour of physical activity per day. Socioeconomic status is showing that higher education positive affect the involvement in the physical activity and that families that are in poverty are less likely to be involved in physical activity (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n. d. a).
Social consequences of obesity
There have been various social consequences of the obesity identified. In the majority they are the outcome of other factors, since the factors that contribute and further complicate the issues are many times interconnected. The health and physical activity and appearances impact the social interaction and involvement in the community. The stigmatization of obesity has an impact on children and also on adults. There exist various negative stereotypes that can mark the individual life forever (Bhadoria et al., 2015). The consequences of obesity examined are social exclusion and discrimination.
Social exclusion
The first major social consequence for society at large is the exclusion which results in a lack of productivity which affects the whole society. When someone is taken away the possibility to achieve as much as possible, it is negatively impacting the whole society. Obese are being stigmatized and isolated which causes the alienation t from the society to which they could contribute. This is having not just local but also national level consequences of the productivity that is diminished. Being obese in childhood or young adulthood has economic consequences. Studies conducted found that obese were having lower household incomes and higher rates of household poverty than others that were not obese (Petrelli & Wollin, 2009).
Discrimination
Individuals who are obese are exposed to discrimination based on their appearances and physical activity. The stigmatization is even bigger among children in schools and can cause social marginalization. Obese people are usually excluded and are not included in various activities. There have been increased cases of bullying among school children based on obesity. The individual tends to have few friends and can have problems also in other fields such as academic achievement which can lead further to the less jobs opportunities. The social problem of exclusion from community or peers can greatly impact confidence and self-esteem which can contribute to self-isolation and further health issues because of further inactivity and staying at home and using food as a comfort (Bhadoria et al., 2015). With the 54% and more than 30% obese of the U.S. population being overweight the discrimination can have vast impacts. The discrimination occurs in school, work and in free time. Stigmatization in schools is affecting the attendance to collage and reduces the employment possibilities. The obese people are having less chance in getting a job and they receive less money and have fewer possibilities of promotion (Brownell & Puhl, 2012).
Discrimination of obesity can leave various impacts on the whole societies from different behavior, alcohol or drug consumption, financial implications that can result in the quitting school or job. The companies that discriminate based on the issue examined are also less productive, which has a national impact.
Research method for studying obesity
The overall correlations and research should be done on the national level. The discipline used should be sociology, since the social factors are included such as poverty and lifestyle on which the correlation between those two factors and obesity can be researched. The most appropriate research method would be a survey since it can include the sufficient participants in order to examine the issue on the national level. The survey could be made based on the research literature written so far. It is the best way to show which factors contribute to the obesity the most in the society.
Conclusion
The thesis of the paper is that poverty and lifestyle correlate with the increasing rate of obesity and with improving them the rates of obesity would decrease. Based on the examined research and statistics we can confirm the thesis, since the lifestyle and poverty are statistically correlated with the obesity. There must be however, pointed out that only those two factors are not enough to examine the issue of obesity since there are many other social factors that can significantly contribute to the increasing rates. The obesity should be tackled from those two major core social factors, since with that the obesity can be decreased with focusing on the core risk factors and preventive measures rather than on the curative. The obesity is having a vast social impact on local and national levels and should therefore be further examined.
Work cited
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. N. d. Obesity and Overweight. Retrieved http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. N. d. a. Facts About Physical Activity. Retrieved http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/data/facts.htm
Bahdoria, Singh Ajeet, Choudhury, KumaprAshok, Kumar, Raman, Sahho Bishnupriya, Sahoo, Krushnapriva. 2015. Chidlhod Obesity: Causes and Consequences. Journal Family Medicine Primary Care. 4(2): 187-192.
Brownell, D. Kelly, Puhl, Rebecca. 2012. Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity. Obesity Research. Vol. 9 (12): 788-895.
DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Proctor, D. Betnadette. 2015. Income and Poverty in The United States: 2014. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved: https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p60- 252.pdf
Dixon, John, Egger, Garry. 2014. Beyond Obesity and Lifestyle: a Review of 21st Century Chronic Disease Determinants. BioMed Research International. Retrieved http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3997940/Dugan, Andrew. 2013. Fast Food Still Major Part of U.S. Diet. Gallup. Retrieved http://www.gallup.com/poll/163868/fast-food-major-part-diet.aspx
Petrelli, M. Jenifer, Wolin, Y. Hathleen. 2009. Obesity. United States of America: Greenwood Press.
