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. 2002 Mar;56(3):193–199. doi: 10.1136/jech.56.3.193

Neighbourhood level versus individual level correlates of women's body dissatisfaction: toward a multilevel understanding of the role of affluence

L McLaren 1, L Gauvin 1
PMCID: PMC1732102  PMID: 11854340

Abstract

Study objective: This study examined the prevalence of body dissatisfaction as a function of individual level and neighbourhood level indicators of affluence.

Participants and setting: A subset of data from a larger random digit dialling telephone survey was used to obtain individual level data on body dissatisfaction, body weight and height, and income from a group of 895 adult women (age 24–56, 61% English speaking) living in 52 neighbourhoods (census tract areas) within the provinces of Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec, Canada who were selected for their heterogeneity in social class.

Design: Aggregated census tract data from 1996 were used to develop neighbourhood indicators of affluence. Using hierarchical linear modelling, body dissatisfaction (dichotomous) was examined as a function of individual body mass index, individual level affluence and neighbourhood level affluence.

Main results: The impact of body mass index on body dissatisfaction depended on the level of neighbourhood affluence: an average body mass index was associated with higher likelihood of reporting body dissatisfaction in a neighbourhood of above average affluence (71% probability) than in a neighbourhood of average affluence (58% probability), independent of a woman's individual affluence (whether she was low income or not).

Conclusion: It is concluded that a clearer understanding of the role of affluence on body dissatisfaction can be achieved by a joint examination of individual and neighbourhood level influences.

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Selected References

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