A literature review on 'The Correlation Between Socioeconomic Status and Obesity'

Literature review: The Correlation between Socioeconomic Status and Obesity
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Previous research and studies on the relationship existing between socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity has indicated that there is a transposed relationship in women from developed nations. This relationship doesn`t hold for both men and children from the same developed nations. However, this is quite different in developing societies. This is because in such societies SES directly affects obesity among the men, women and children. In both the developed and underdeveloped society, obesity distribution by SES is influenced by the societies` mind on thinness and obesity. In the developed society, there exists an inverse relationship between obesity and SES with regard to women. This is caused by their opinion on obesity and being slim often affected by physical activity, social kinesis and restrictions on the diet (Sobal 1989).
Obesity is linked to the level of education, the occupation and the economic status of individuals. It has been shown that the probability of finding a man or woman who left school earlier than expected to be obese is very high. The more educated ones tend to be health sensitive and therefore the probability of getting them obese is minimal. Gruber suggests that obesity is prone to members of the low socioeconomic class because of lack of education (Gruber e.tal 2008). This is entirely true to both men and women of such a society. The age, ethnicity and marital status do not play a role when it comes to education as an effect of SES. This is in agreement with results from other nations like Sweden and Finland. Gruber recommends education and sensitization be carried out in the lower SES regions in order to educate the individuals on obesity. Owing to the fact that education as a factor in obesity is not affected by gender, occupation and income, education as an SES variable is capable of being changed. Education plays a big role in weight related behavioral predictions. This implies that increasing awareness on diet and the importance of physical activities especially to the lower SES society will assist in keeping obesity at check. The trend between male education and obesity is null however for women it is speculated that graduate women are less likely to get obese compared to those who never went to college (Krieger 1997).
Different sources from which form part of the research seem to agree on the fact that obesity is influenced by the occupation of both male and female members of a society. Considering the lower occupation, characteristics observed include, time restrictions, lack of opportunity to observe healthy eating and living, and increased stress levels. All these are ingredients for obesity. There is a sex difference in this risk which is yet to be researched. However this can be attributed to reasoni...