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Author: Felton, Andrew
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Graham, Carol
Felton, Andrew
Variance in Obesity Across Cohorts and Countries: A Norms-Based Explanation Using Happiness Surveys
CSED Working Paper No. 44, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC, September 2005.
Also: http://www.brookings.edu/es/dynamics/papers/CSED_wp42.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Brookings Institution
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); CESD (Depression Scale); Cross-national Analysis; Depression (see also CESD); Ethnic Differences; General Social Survey (GSS); Obesity; Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS)

We use well being surveys to help explain the variance in obesity incidence across socioeconomic cohorts in the United States and Russia, with a focus on the role of norms. In the U.S., obesity is largely a poor people's problem, and the same groups suffer higher well being costs from being obese. Poor whites have higher obesity-related well being costs than blacks or Hispanics. Respondents in the top income quintile who are obese and those who depart from the weight norm for their profession also suffer higher well being costs than the average. Stigma seems to be higher for those in higher status professions. We find modest evidence that causality runs from overweight to depression rather than the other way around. In Russia, in contrast, obesity and well being are positively correlated. The relationship seems to be driven by the prosperity that is associated with obesity rather than by the excess weight per se, and we find no evidence of stigma. In both countries, there is a wide margin in both countries for tailoring public health messages to marshal the attention of very different cohorts.

For the U.S., we rely on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), which has been conducted since 1979 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and has been following over 12,000 adolescents throughout their lives. While other data sets report trends in obesity in the U.S., this survey is particularly valuable because it has panel data on respondents' health, well-being, and a number of attitudinal variables. Additionally, we merged cohorts from the NLSY and the General Social Survey (GSS). The GSS is a large, over-time (not panel) survey for the U.S. While it does not have the detailed data on height and weight that is in the NLSY, it does have a standard happiness question, which is not in the NLSY. For Russia we rely on the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS), a nationally representative panel that has been conducted most years since 1995, with approximately 10,000 respondents in each year's survey and typically 2 or 3 over time observations for each respondent in the survey.

Bibliography Citation
Graham, Carol and Andrew Felton. "Variance in Obesity Across Cohorts and Countries: A Norms-Based Explanation Using Happiness Surveys." CSED Working Paper No. 44, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC, September 2005.