Research Topic

Original Research Question: We continue to see an unprecedented increase in obesity across the map in the United States. I intended to research the underlying cause of this and discuss the long term effects this may cause.

However, when conducting my research I decided that this research question was a too broad. I was comping across a verity of age groups, ethnicities all with different possible causes to the increase in obesity.


New Research Question: Is socioeconomic status a determining factor to higher childhood obesity in the United States?

Sources:

 Martens, P. J., Chateau, D. G., Burland, E. M., Finlayson, G. S., Smith, M. J., Taylor, C. R., . . . Bolton, J. M. (2014). The Effect of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status on Education and Health Outcomes for Children Living in Social Housing. American Journal of Public Health, 104(11), 2103-2113. doi:10.2105/ajph.2014.302133

 Veldhuis, L., Vogel, I., Rossem, L. V., Renders, C., Hirasing, R., Mackenbach, J., & Raat, H. (2013). Influence of Maternal and Child Lifestyle-Related Characteristics on the Socioeconomic Inequality in Overweight and Obesity among 5-year-old Children; The “Be Active, Eat Right” Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(6), 2336-2347. doi:10.3390/ijerph10062336

 Huynh, M., Borrell, L. N., & Chambers, E. C. (2013). Maternal Education and Excessive Gestational Weight Gain in New York City, 1999–2001: The Effect of Race/Ethnicity and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 18(1), 138-145. doi:10.1007/s10995-013-1246-5

Reasearch Process: I began by searching key words into the American Journal of Public Health related to my topic such as "socioeconomic, obesity, childhood obesity" I found a article that describes The effect of neighborhood socioeconomic status on education and health outcomes for children living in social housing. This article found a notable increase in weight gain for the children classified to be from a low socioeconomic area. I will continue my reasearch on the Knowledge Center's OneSearch.