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Child Overweight and Obesity in Shanghai, China: Contextualizing Chinese Socioeconomic and Gender Differences

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Abstract

Purpose

Childhood overweight and obesity is on the rise in China and in Chinese cities in particular. The aim of this study is to explore the extent of income differences in childhood overweight in Shanghai, China, and examine demographic, social, and behavioral explanations for these differences.

Methods

Using the 2014 Child Well-Being Study of Shanghai, China—a survey that included extensive contextual information on children and their families in China’s most populous city, prevalence rates and adjusted odds ratios of child overweight and obesity at age 7 were calculated by income tercile controlling for a wide variety of sociodemographic variables.

Results

District aggregate income increases the odds of child overweight/obesity, but only for boys. In contrast, rural hukou status was associated with lower odds of overweight/obesity for girls.

Conclusions

Boys at age 7 are more likely to be overweight and obese than girls. District income further increases this likelihood for boys, while rural hukou status decreases this likelihood for girls, suggesting that preferences for boys and thinness ideals for girls may play a role in the income patterning of childhood overweight and obesity.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Washington, 4101 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA

    Melissa L. Martinson

  2. University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Yu-Ling Chang

  3. New York University Silver School of Social Work, New York, NY, USA

    Wen-Jui Han

  4. NYU-ECNU Institute for Social Development at NYU Shanghai, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Jun Wen

Authors
  1. Melissa L. Martinson
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  2. Yu-Ling Chang
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  3. Wen-Jui Han
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  4. Jun Wen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melissa L. Martinson.

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Ethical Approval

This article uses secondary data and is exempt from human participant protocols. The original data collection was approved through the Institutional Review Board at New York University.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Appendix

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Table 4 Overweight and obesity rates
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Martinson, M.L., Chang, YL., Han, WJ. et al. Child Overweight and Obesity in Shanghai, China: Contextualizing Chinese Socioeconomic and Gender Differences. Int.J. Behav. Med. 25, 141–149 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-017-9688-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-017-9688-6

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