Association of individual network social capital with abdominal adiposity, overweight and obesity

Spencer Moore, Mark Daniel, Catherine Paquet, Laurette Dubé, Lise Gauvin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

95 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BackgroundLimited research has examined the association of individual trust, participation and social capital with obesity using objective measures of waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI) and network measures of social capital.MethodsData were obtained from a representative sample of Montreal residents. Participants completed questionnaires that included a position generator for collecting network social capital data. Measures of WC, height and weight were collected by registered nurses. To estimate associations with cardiometabolic risk, data on WC for individuals with BMI between 18.5 and 34.9 were extracted for analysis (n = 291). Using a proportional odds model with clustered robust standard errors, we evaluated the association of three different measures of individual social capital with elevated and substantially elevated WC and overweight and obesity categories of BMI. These measures were then evaluated in their associations with elevated WC and BMI, adjusting for socio-demographic and behavioral covariates.ResultsNetwork social capital was inversely associated with the likelihood of being in an elevated WC risk category (odds ratio (OR) = 0.81, 95 confidence intervals (CI: 0.69, 0.96) and higher BMI category (OR = 0.81, 95 CI: 0.71, 0.92).ConclusionHigher individual network social capital is associated with a lower likelihood of elevated WC risk and overweight and obesity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)175-183
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Public Health
Volume31
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished or Issued - Mar 2009
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Obesity
  • Social determinants
  • Socioeconomics factors

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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