SOCIOECONOMIC
FACTORS AFFFECTING ACCESS TO AND ATTITUDES TOWARD PHYSICAL HEALTH:
AN
AWESOME DIVERSITY PAPER BY BALDY AND FINCH
The overarching theme of our
articles was that higher socioeconomic
status (SES) equates with improved health habits and awareness, while lower SES
reduced access to and appreciation of healthy lifestyle choices. For example,
people with socioeconomic advantages were shown to have been less likely to
smoke and more likely to exercise and to eat fruits and vegetables daily.
Meanwhile, lower SES was associated with less health consciousness, stronger
beliefs in the influence of chance on health, less thinking about the future
and lower life expectancies.
Some of our studies delved deeper
into the underlying causes of this health gap and the corresponding trend of
childhood obesity among families of lower socioeconomic classes. According to
the researchers, the reasons included “differences in the availability of
healthier foods in homes and schools, as well as the availability of safe
environments for physical activity.” They point out that minority and
low-income children “watch more television than white, non-poor children and
are potentially exposed to more commercials advertising high-calorie,
low-nutrient food during an average hour of TV programming” and that “
neighborhoods where low-income and minority children live typically have more
fast-food restaurants and fewer vendors of healthful foods than do wealthier or
predominantly white neighborhood.”
Other studies showed that African
American youth “suffer fatal drowning events at significantly higher rates when
compared with white peers.” Incredibly, drowning is the second leading cause of
death for adolescent black males and the authors point to racial factors and
socioeconomic causes such as a lack of access to public pools and poor parental
education.
Access to health information and to
health professionals in poor rural areas was also highlighted, especially when
it came to serving the needs of at-risk populations and students with
disabilities. For example, “only half of health service providers in surveyed
low socioeconomic areas of Alabama teach healthy behaviors (diet, exercise, hygiene)
and access clinical resources for their patients with disabilities.” And while,
nationally, the ratio of children with diabetes to the number of pediatric
endocrinologists who treat them was shown to be about 290 to 1, across the more
urban affluent Northeast that ratio was reduced to 144 to 1. Not surprisingly,
the ratio of youth with diabetes to specialists dropped to between 335 and 370
to one in more rural economically depressed areas.
All of these access and attitudinal
factors taken together were, in turn, associated with unhealthy behavioral
choices--independent of age, sex, and how people rated their own health. And
these findings weren't just confined to the United States. Throughout the
world, studies show that a lower health factor and lower life expectations
correlate directly to lower SES.
It can be argued then that helping
every child access the tools they need to craft a healthy life, regardless of
their socioeconomic status, is one of the most pressing issues of our day.
After looking at all available research, multiple authors concluded that
“winning the fight against childhood obesity in minority and low-income
communities will depend on the nation's will to change the social and physical
environments in which these communities exist.” We would argue that maybe, as
physical educators, we have the opportunity to win the fight one child at a
time.
Perhaps Nobel Prize-winning poet
Gabriela made the best case for the urgency with which all of us must tackle
this problem:
“Many of the things we need can
wait. The child cannot.
Right now is the time his bones are
being formed,
his blood is being made, and his
senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow.’
His name is ‘Today.”
ARTICLES
1.
Socio-economic inequalities in physical activity practice among Italian
children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study
2. Trends in physical activity and
sedentary behavior in adolescence: ethnic and socioeconomic differences
3. Children, Youth and Families&
Socioeconomic Status
4. Socioeconomic differences in attitudes
and beliefs about healthy lifestyles
6. Perceptions of Health and
Disability among Service Providers in Alabama http://aahperd.confex.com/aahperd/2010/webprogram/Paper14448.html
7. Minority Youth Swimming: Barriers
Affecting Participation and Abilityhttp://aahperd.confex.com/aahperd/2010/webprogram/Paper14455.html
8. Socioeconomic factors in the
development of childhood obesity and diabetes http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19505621
9. Impact of early psychosocial
factors (childhood socioeconomic factors and adversities) on future risk of
type 2 diabetes, metabolic disturbances and obesity: a systematic review http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-10-525.pdf
10. Targeting interventions for
ethnic minority and low-income populations http://www.jointcenter.org/hpi/sites/all/files/08-Targeting%20Interventions.pdf
11. Geographic distribution of childhood diabetes and
obesity relative to the supply of pediatric endocrinologists in the United
States http://www.gghjournal.com/volume24/2/ab18.cfm
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