Childhood Obesity and Unhappiness: the Influence of Soft Drinks and Fast Food Consumption.
Hung-Hao Chang Æ Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr.
Published online: 21 March 2009
_ Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract A growing body of literature has examined the determinants of childhood obesity, but little is known about children’s subjective wellbeing. To fulfill this gap, this paper examines the effects of fast food and soft drink consumption on children’s overweight and unhappiness. Using a nationwide survey data in Taiwan and estimating a simultaneous mixed equation system, our results generally suggest a tradeoff in policy implication. Fast food and soft drink consumption tend to be positively associated with children’s increased risk of being overweight but they are also negatively associated with their degree of unhappiness. Current and future policy/program interventions that aim to decrease fast food and soft drinks consumption of children to reduce childhood obesity may be more effective if these interventions also focus on ways that could compensate the increase in degree of unhappiness among children.
Keywords Unhappiness _ Childhood obesity _ Fast food _ Soft drink _ Taiwan
1 Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that obesity has become a growing threat to human health both in developing and developed countries (World Health Organization
2000). The prevalence of childhood obesity is also of increasing public concern around the world. For example, in Taiwan, childhood obesity has increased dramatically over the past decades. In 1970, only about 2% of Taiwanese school-children were considered obese. By 1988, this figure has risen to 17% (Wu 2001). To date, one in every four
H.-H. Chang (&)
Department of Agricultural Economics, National Taiwan University, No 1, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4,
Taipei 10617, Taiwan e-mail: hunghaochang@ntu.edu.tw
R. M. Nayga Jr.
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville,
AR 72701, USA e-mail: rnayga@uark.edu
123
J
Published online: 21 March 2009
_ Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract A growing body of literature has examined the determinants of childhood obesity, but little is known about children’s subjective wellbeing. To fulfill this gap, this paper examines the effects of fast food and soft drink consumption on children’s overweight and unhappiness. Using a nationwide survey data in Taiwan and estimating a simultaneous mixed equation system, our results generally suggest a tradeoff in policy implication. Fast food and soft drink consumption tend to be positively associated with children’s increased risk of being overweight but they are also negatively associated with their degree of unhappiness. Current and future policy/program interventions that aim to decrease fast food and soft drinks consumption of children to reduce childhood obesity may be more effective if these interventions also focus on ways that could compensate the increase in degree of unhappiness among children.
Keywords Unhappiness _ Childhood obesity _ Fast food _ Soft drink _ Taiwan
1 Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that obesity has become a growing threat to human health both in developing and developed countries (World Health Organization
2000). The prevalence of childhood obesity is also of increasing public concern around the world. For example, in Taiwan, childhood obesity has increased dramatically over the past decades. In 1970, only about 2% of Taiwanese school-children were considered obese. By 1988, this figure has risen to 17% (Wu 2001). To date, one in every four
H.-H. Chang (&)
Department of Agricultural Economics, National Taiwan University, No 1, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4,
Taipei 10617, Taiwan e-mail: hunghaochang@ntu.edu.tw
R. M. Nayga Jr.
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville,
AR 72701, USA e-mail: rnayga@uark.edu
123
J