When richer does not mean thinner:Ethnicity, socio-economic position and the risk of child obesity in the U.K.

BACKGROUND: A range of studies report a robust association between family socio-economic position and the prevalence of child overweight/obesity. On average, children from poorer backgrounds are more likely to be overweight/obese than children from more advantaged families. However, a small number of U.S. studies have shown that, for ethnic minority children, the association is either non-existent or reversed. OBJECTIVE: We test if the link between socio-economic position and child overweight/obesity at age 7 is heterogeneous in the U.K. where rates of obesity are particularly high for some groups of ethnic minority children. METHODS: We use nationally representative data from the U.K. Millennium Cohort Study and we use descriptive analyses and logistic regression models. RESULTS: Poorer White children are at higher risk of overweight/obesity than higher income White children. However, socio-economic disparities are reversed for Black African/Caribbean children and non-existent for children of Indian, and Pakistani/Bangladeshi origin. Moreover, the health behaviours that explain socio-economic disparities in child overweight/obesity for the White group appear to be irrelevant in explaining differences by socio-economic position for the Black Caribbean and African groups. CONCLUSIONS: We should be careful in assuming that higher socio-economic position is protective against child overweight/obesity for all groups of the population. CONTRIBUTION: This study shows for the first time important variation by ethnicity in the link between socioeconomic position and child overweight/obesity – and in the underlying mechanisms linking them – in the UK.