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Past studies have shown wide variation in the obesity rates of Asian American ethnic subgroups. However, whether weight-related behaviors that occur during acculturation are associated with obesity disparities among Asian American ethnic subgroups is unknown. This study examines the differences in body mass index (BMI) across Asian American ethnic subgroups and assesses how acculturation and weight-related behaviors influence these differences. The linear regression models employed in this study use data pools from 2011 to 2014 released by the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). The sample comprises 3,248 foreign-born Asian Americans aged 18–59 years. Asian Americans who spoke fluent English had significantly lower BMIs than those who spoke poor English, but English fluency did not explain body size disparities among Asian American ethnic subgroups. Filipino Americans had the highest average BMI (25.89 kg/m²) and obesity rate (53.12%), and they were particularly prone to engage in unhealthy weight-related behaviors, such as consuming fast food, drinking soda, and engaging in sedentary lifestyles. However, weight-related behaviors did not explain their high risk of obesity compared to other Asian American ethnic subgroups. The results underscore the potential for misinterpretation when pan-ethnic labels, such as Asian American, collapse the unique experiences of different immigrant origin groups. Future research may investigate whether other factors that affect the acculturation process, such as attitudes, self-identity, beliefs, or experiences with racism and discrimination, explain obesity disparities among Asian American ethnic subgroups.

Purpose: To understand how lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and asexual (LBTQA+) young women interpret the social construction of “lesbian obesity” in the context of their lived experiences and membership in the LGBTQ+ community.

Methodology: Individual, in-depth interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 25 LBTQA+ women, ages 18–24, to explore how participants perceive and experience dominant discourses about gender, sexuality, and weight. Interviews were analyzed using a combination of deductive and inductive coding approaches.

Findings: Participants resisted public health discourse that frames obesity as a disease and the implication that their sexual identities put their health at risk. Many participants viewed their sexual identities and membership in the LGBTQ+ community as protective factors for their health statuses in general and their body image in particular.

Implications: Our findings suggest a need to reconsider the utility of the concept of “lesbian obesity” to characterize the significance of elevated rates of overweight and obesity in this population. Public health and clinical interventions guided by body positive approaches may be of greater relevance for sexual minority women.

Originality: This study centers the perceptions and experiences of LBTQA+ young women in order to examine how the intersections of sexual minority identity, dominant cultural ideals about weight, and obesity discourse inform their health.

Social scientists often speculate that both acculturation and socioeconomic status are factors that may explain differences in the body weight between Mexican Americans and whites and between Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants, yet prior research has not explicitly theorized and tested the pathways that lead both of these upstream factors to contribute to ethnic/nativity disparities in weight. We make this contribution to the literature by developing a conceptual model drawing from Glass and McAtee’s (2006) risk regulation framework. We test this model by analyzing data from the 1999–2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Our conceptual model treats acculturation and socioeconomic status as risk regulators, or social factors that place individuals in positions where they are at risk for health risk behaviors that negatively influence health outcomes. We specifically argue that acculturation and low socioeconomic status contribute to less healthy diets, lower physical activity, and chronic stress, which then increases the risk of weight gain. We further contend that pathways from ethnicity/nativity and through acculturation and socioeconomic status likely explain disparities in weight gain between Mexican Americans and whites and between Mexican immigrants and whites. Study results largely support our conceptual model and have implications for thinking about solutions for reducing ethnic/nativity disparities in weight.

This chapter provides an introduction to Volume 28, The Impact of Demographics on Health and Health Care: Race, Ethnicity and Other Social Factors. This chapter introduces the topic of demographic factors leading to differences and disparities in health and health care by reviewing more recent literature within sociology addressing social factors leading to differences in health and health. This chapter also serves as an introduction to the volume. As such, the chapter explains the organization of the volume and briefly comments on each of the chapters included in the volume.

Escalation in the number of online food ordering platforms, along with extensive junk food marketing, lucrative offers and discounts, innovation in food flavors, and doorstep delivery of food, have triggered the consumption of high-calorie and unhealthy food products which pose serious threats to the health and future well-being of individuals by making them more obese. To date, several public policy frameworks have been developed to confront obesity; however, their efficacy seems debatable. Directionally, the objective of this study is to highlight the potential influence of “digital nudging” which aims at steering individuals in desired directions, at the same time delimiting their freedom of choice. The study also establishes the effectiveness of digital nudges promoting a healthy lifestyle by steering individuals toward healthier food choices. The author strongly believes that this conceptual perusal will offer immense inputs to healthy food marketers and researchers alike in addressing the matters of obesity. Addressing the menace of obesity calls for joint efforts of the government, the public, researchers, and more specifically food product manufacturers/marketers who should incorporate healthier food options into their portfolios. E-tailers are also urged to adopt such practices in virtual markets and promote healthier food options to effectively tackle obesity.

This chapter provides an overview of the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in health, including disease, health behaviors, and access to health. The literature on the social determinants of health is reviewed. The chapter then provides a review of the health status of the homeless, poor, and near-poor. The incidence and mortality rates for leading diseases and health behaviors are reviewed, in addition to issues of environmental exposures, access to care, and health literacy. SES is one of the strongest predictors of health status (Kahng, 2010; Kawachi & Kennedy, 1997; Link & Phelan, 1996). SES is important to health regardless of a person's social status and in general, the more advantaged individuals are, the better their health, and the more disadvantaged individuals are, the greater their chances of increased morbidity and mortality (Adler et al., 1994; Adler & Coriell, 1997, Kidder, Wolitski, Campsmith, & Nakamura, 2007; Zlotnick and Zerger, 2009).

The chapter provides an overview of strategies and policies to address the health needs of the poor and vulnerable in our society, including workplace wellness strategies and school-based health clinics. The authors suggest ways to extend these innovative practices. This chapter emphasizes an approach to addressing the health of the poor and near-poor that acknowledges the significant role that access to social and economic resources plays in the acquisition and maintenance of health. Recommendations for health interventions are focused on strengthening the utilization of community institutions to deliver needed services.

Purpose: As biomedicine grants technology and quantification privileged roles in our cultural constructions of health, media and technology play an increasingly important role in mediating our everyday experiences of our bodies and may contribute to the reproduction of gendered norms.

Design: This study draws from a broad variety of disciplines to contextualize and interpret contemporary trends in self-quantification, focusing on metrics for health and fitness. I will also draw from psychology and feminist scholarship on objectification and body-surveillance.

Findings: I interpret body-tracking tools as biomedical technologies of self-surveillance that facilitate and encourage control of human bodies, while solidifying demands for standardization around neoliberal values of enhancement and optimization. I also argue that body-tracking devices reinforce and normalize the scrutiny of human bodies in ways that may reproduce and advance longstanding gender disparities in detriment of women.

Implications: A responsible conceptualization, design, implementation, and usage of health-tracking technologies requires us to recognize and better understand how technologies with widely touted benefits also have the potential to reinforce and extend inequalities, alter subjective experiences and produce damaging outcomes, especially among certain groups. I conclude by proposing some alternatives for devising technologies or encouraging practices that are sensitive to these differences and acknowledge the validity of alternative values.