Exploring how socioeconomic status affects neighbourhood environments’ effects on obesity risks: A longitudinal study in Singapore
Author(s)
Tan, Shin Bin; Dickens, Borame L.; Sevtsuk, Andres; Zheng, Siqi; Zeng, Kangwei; Lee, Yung Seng; Yap, Fabian; Chan, Shiao-Yng; Chan, Jerry Kok Yen; Tan, Kok Hian; Chong, Yap-Seng; Eriksson, Johan G.; Chong, Mary F.-F.; Arcaya, Mariana C.; ... Show more Show less
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Research on how socioeconomic status interacts with neighbourhood characteristics to influence disparities in obesity outcomes is currently limited by residential segregation-induced structural confounding, a lack of empirical studies outside the U.S. and other ‘Western’ contexts, and an over-reliance on cross-sectional analyses. This study addresses these challenges by examining how socioeconomic status modifies the effect of accumulated exposures to obesogenic neighbourhood environments on children and mothers’ BMI, drawing from a longitudinal mother-child birth cohort study in Singapore, an Asian city-state with relatively little residential segregation. We find that increased access to park connectors was associated with a decrease in BMI outcomes for mothers with higher socioeconomic status, but an increase for those with lower socioeconomic status. We also find that increased access to bus stops was associated with an increase in BMIz of children with lower socioeconomic status, but with a decrease in BMIz of children with higher socioeconomic status, while increased access to rail stations was associated with a decrease in BMIz of children with lower socioeconomic status only. Our results suggest that urban interventions might have heterogeneous effects by socioeconomic status.
Date issued
2022-10Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and PlanningJournal
Landscape and Urban Planning
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation
Tan, Shin Bin, Dickens, Borame L., Sevtsuk, Andres, Zheng, Siqi, Zeng, Kangwei et al. 2022. "Exploring how socioeconomic status affects neighbourhood environments’ effects on obesity risks: A longitudinal study in Singapore." Landscape and Urban Planning, 226.
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
0169-2046