Three factors explain the greater obesity rates we find among women. Women who were nutritionally deprived as children are significantly more likely to be obese as adults, while men who were deprived as children face no greater risk. In addition, women of higher adult socioeconomic status are significantly more likely to be obese, which is not true for men. These two factors can fully explain the difference in obesity rates we find in our sample.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Why are women more likely to be obese?
From an NBER study of obesity in Africa:
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what about different interest in levels of exercise?
ReplyDeleteMale friendship often involves sport. Women involves chatting.
I know it's not pc, but.
Does any of it have to do with a display of affluence for those women who are obese. Given the chronic food supply issues that are abundant in Africa, does a wealthier female, who may have either been deprived or scarred by the fear of being deprived of food, manifest herself via becoming obese? Also, how is obesity treated in the African cultures surveyed? Is it taboo, as it is here, or is it something to be be prized because it means that the female is able to feed herself and provide enough nutrition to supply a family.
ReplyDeleteI guess the question gets interesting when one looks at cultural, sociological, and psychological factors and finds the nexus where these meet economics.