Cumulative Disadvantage and Health: Long-Term Consequences of Obesity?

Abstract

Drawing from cumulative disadvantage theory, the health consequences of obesity are considered in light of the accumulation of risk factors over the life course.Two forms of compensation are also examined to determine if the risk due to obesity is persistent or modifiable.Analyses make use of data from a national survey to examine the consequences of obesity on disability among respondents 45 years of age or older, tracked across 20 years (N = 4,106).Results from tobit models indicate that obesity, especially when experienced early in life, is consistently related to lower-body disability.The results also show that obesity has long-term health consequences during adulthood, altering the life course in an enduring way.Compensation was not manifest from risk-factor elimination (weight loss), but rather through regular exercise.Although there is evidence for long-term consequences of risk factors on health, the findings suggest that more attention should be given to compensatory mechanisms in the development of cumulative disadvantage theory.Sociological studies of life chances and well-being have contributed much to our understanding of the life course and the structure of inequality.As empirical generalizations accumulate on how inequality develops over the life course, recent research points to two innovations that have greatly shaped the course of inquiry.First, examining physical or biological markers-whether measured or reported-reveal much about life course opportunities and constraints (Barker 1997;Booth, Carver, and Granger 2000;Conley and Bennett 2000;Seeman et al. 2001).Many markers of physical characteristics, such as birth weight, hormones, and skin tones, may be associated with social arrangements and, hence, quality of life.Indeed, there are many ways that these or other physical characteristics may shape opportunities in life, including perceived attractiveness, stigma, and stratification.Second, long-term examinations of life chances, health, and well-being demonstrate the importance of taking the "long view" in studying life course inequality-integrating information over decades of the life course (Blackwell, Hay ward, and Crimmins 2001;Ferraro and Farmer 1999;Sampson and Laub 1996;Warren, Hauser, and Sheridan 2002).Some risks are immediate in their effects, but others take considerable time to become manifest.One risk that has garnered considerable attention during the past decade is excess body weight.Obesity has long been recognized as a target of stigma in many societies (DeJong 1980;Stunkard, LaFleur, and Wadden 1998) and has influenced labor market location

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