Gaining Weight: How Media Exposure, Socioeconomic Status, Sedentary Lifestyle and Dietary Habits Work Together - A Secondary Analysis of a Nationally Representative Study

Abstract

Obesity is a complex phenomenon without a single cause that needs comprehensive understanding and inte- grated intervention. However, few researches have considered the media exposure, SES, lifestyle factors and their contri- butions to the national problem of overweight and obesity comprehensively. To study the determinants of adults being overweight or obese, a secondary analysis with national representative sample (ABC News/Time Magazine Obesity Poll) was performed. Respondents were asked to rate their media exposures, behaviors of healthy diets and physical activities in their lives. The research results reaffirmed that sedentary lifestyle (e.g., hours of watching television and physical inactiv- ity) in combination with dietary behavior of eating fat condensed food (e.g., frequent visits of fast food restaurant) have increased probabilities to be overweight and obese.