Race and Gender Differences in Obesity and Disease

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to examine race and gender\rdifferences in obesity and disease overtime. This topic is under studies in\rracial/ethnic minority populations. Yet, gender differences in health within\rethnic groups provide a more nuanced approach to health disparities. The\ranalyses for this study were based on two waves of data (Wave1, 1986 and Wave\r2, 1989) of the Americans’ Changing Lives Survey. The results revealed that a\rlarger percentage of females are obese compared to males across all racial\rgroups and females suffer a higher prevalence of disease compared to males\rwhich persists across time. The implications for cumulative disadvantage\rtheory, feminist theory and the measurement of BMI and body fat are discussed.