Lindsay McLaren
Socioeconomic Status and Obesity
University of Calgary
objective review update sobal stunkards exhaustive review literature relation socioeconomic status ses obesity psychol bull 198910526075 diverse research databases including cinahl eric medline social science abstracts comprehensively searched years 19882004 inclusive using obesity socioeconomic status synonyms search terms total 333 published studies representing 1914 primarily crosssectional associations included review overall pattern results men women increasing proportion positive associations decreasing proportion negative associations one moved countries high levels socioeconomic development countries medium low levels development findings varied ses indicator example negative associations lower ses associated larger body size women highly developed countries common education occupation positive associations women medium lowdevelopment countries common income material possessions patterns women higher versus lowerdevelopment countries generally less striking observed sobal stunkard finding interpreted light trends related globalization results underscore view obesity social phenomenon appropriate action includes targeting economic sociocultural factors