Ulrike Igel

The influence of perceived discrimination on health in migrants

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of racial discrimination on subjective health in migrants. METHODS The sample included 1.844 migrants from the SOEP. Discrimination was assessed by two items. Socioeconomic status, country of origin, and health behavior were included in multivariate regression models to control for effects on health. Differential models with regard to gender and origin were analysed. RESULTS Migrants who experienced discrimination report a worse health status. Discrimination determines mental and physical health of migrants. There are differences in models due to gender and origin. CONCLUSIONS In addition to socioeconomic factors experienced discrimination should be taken into account as a psycho-social stressor of migrants.

Obesogenic environments: environmental approaches to obesity prevention

Abstract Childhood obesity is a major concern for public health. There are multiple factors (e.g., genetic, social, and environmental) that contribute to unhealthy weight gain. Drawing from findings on “obesogenic environments” and core principles of preventive strategies to reduce health inequalities, this paper gives an overview of recent childhood prevention programs that target aspects of the physical environment (“environmental changes”). Out of the ten reviews we screened (including more than 300 studies), we identified very few that addressed aspects of the environment. We focus here on 14 programs that follow different approaches to environmental changes (e.g., access to/quality of playgrounds, changes in school cafeterias). Altering the environment offers opportunities for healthier behaviors and seems to be an effective strategy to prevent childhood obesity. However, the evaluation of those (mostly) multidimensional interventions does not allow drawing firm conclusions about the single effect of environmental changes. We conclude that obesity prevention programs should combine person-based and environmental approaches.

Urban Living Conditions: The Relation between Neighborhood Characteristics and Obesity in Children and Adolescents

The individual risks for obesity have been studied extensively. Therefore, this chapter focuses on environmental conditions that promote unhealthy weight gain in children and adolescents. Beginning with a theoretical conceptualization of what constitutes a neighborhood, we report on recent findings on compositional (e.g. area socioeconomic deprivation), structural (e.g. physical environment, i.e. the availability of parks and facilities for physical activity), and functional (e.g. social environment, i.e. social capital and social cohesion within a neighborhood) aspects of neighborhoods and their impact on obesity in children and adolescents. In the following section, we describe the theoretical models of differing complexity that are used to explain spatial effects on child health. In the concluding section, findings and methods are discussed, and implications for community-based obesity prevention are proposed.

The independent relations of both residential self-selection and the environment to physical activity

Residential self-selection is supposed to bias the relation between residential environments and physical activity, but empirical analyses are still rare. This study examines the association while simultaneously considering the effect of residential self-selection criteria. One thousand two hundred and forty-five German students were asked to report their physical activity, their perceived environment, and their reasons for choosing their neighbourhood. Structural equation modelling was employed. Reasons for choosing a neighbourhood were related to actual environmental characteristics. Utilitarian reasons were related to less physical activity, hedonic reasons were related to higher physical activity. The street network was related to higher physical activity independent of residential self-selection. Our results support the weight of both individual preferences and the street network on physical activity. The residential environment has an impact on people’s amount of physical activity regardless of their reasons for choosing a neighbourhood and should therefore be considered a resource in health prevention and promotion.

Association between parental socio-economic status and childhood weight status and the role of urbanicity

• Individual socio-economic status (SES) is associated with childhood overweight and obesity.

The association between physical environment and health: indicating the direction of effects using German panel data.

Background: A growing body of research has identified an association between health and physical residential environmental characteristics. However, the direction of effects remains unclear, and further research is needed to determine whether the residential environment influences health. Objectives: To specify the direction of the association between environmental disadvantage and self-reported health. Methods: Longitudinal data were obtained from the German Socioeconomic Panel and were examined at two points in time. Participants were grouped by relocation status assessed across a five-year period. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the effect of baseline environmental disadvantage on baseline health and on health five years later. Results: In both groups, environmental disadvantage was cross-sectionally correlated with poor health. Only among people who did not relocate was baseline environmental disadvantage significantly related to health five years later in bivariate analyses. Results from the structural equation model found that environmental disadvantage was no longer significantly related to poor health five years later within the group of non-movers (β = -.02, p = .052). In addition, there was no effect in this direction within the group of movers (β = .02, p = .277). Conclusions: Our results suggest the existence of a weak contextual effect as group differences in longitudinal associations indicated the direction of ecological effects.

Deprivation der Wohnumgebung und Gesundheit von Vorschulkindern

Zusammenfassung: Ziel der Studie war die Analyse des Zusammenhangs von Deprivation im Quartier und der Entwicklung von Vorschulkindern. Dazu wurden Daten der Einschulungsuntersuchung mit Elternfragebögen und Ortsteildaten verknüpft und mit Mehrebenenregressionsmodellen analysiert. Kinder aus stärker deprivierten Gebieten weisen häufiger Auffälligkeiten auf als Kinder aus weniger benachteiligten Quartieren, wobei die Wirkungsweisen bei Mädchen und Jungen variieren.