Poverty and Obesity in the Developed World
Author(s)
Firstman, Rachel
Whitaker-Shepard, Kyra
Cherecwich, Michael
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Abstract
In the past three decades worldwide obesity rates have
skyrocketed, contributing to a myriad of health problems in the affected
regions. We have tested for the effects of various factors on obesity,
primarily the effect of poverty on obesity rates. At first we used a single
regression model to compare country GDP and average population BMI in 162
different countries with the assumption that the two will be positively
correlated. Next we focused on the developed world to draw conclusions about
the correlations between obesity, poverty, and factors such as education
levels using a single and multiple regression model. We found significance
between per capita income and prevalence of obesity in the United States in
our single regression model at the 10% level but were unable to find
meaningful data correlation in our multiple regression; however, we did find
a very significant negative impact of high school graduation rates on obesity
rates and a positive correlation between the percentage of non-Hispanic white
population and obesity rates by state.
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Date
2014-12
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Text
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Undergraduate Research Paper