Rolling Along

In earlier blogs I introduced the idea of the Rolling, Rolling, Rolling Effect. In my future research I wish to describe two aspects that I believe add to this effect; which I believe is the main cause of people remaining in poverty. In This attempt I realize that many theories and phenomena will be able to shed valuable light on the topic; however, I will have to limit it to the ideas that only apply directly to the two phenomena that I will be looking at, which are obesity and a poor education system.

To commence our journey I would like to state that in 2008 about 30 percent of Americans were Obese. According to to American Heart Association it has now raised to almost 34 percent. According to my math, at this rate by 2020 America will have over 50 percent of it's residents living in obesity.

Obesity Stats in America 

Obesity has also been studied in other countries. In Canada researchers found that adolescents were 28% more likely to make poorer food choices when they came from lower education communities. Also in Australia and England researchers found that children from more privileged areas made better choices to eat healthier foods (Black 2008).

As Psychologists look at obesity they have identified that poverty rates, high school graduation rates, uninsured residents, single parent households, per capita healthcare spending, per capita income, number of doctors, number of hospitals, infant mortality rates, and teenage pregnancy rates were factors that had a positive correlation to obesity (Menifield 2008). Looking at these factors, I feel we can get a better idea of the underlying problem. I believe that the problem comes from a lack of diligence to the highest standards of education. Studies have also shown that the two biggest factors of obesity are diet and exercise. As children, in school and in home, we either learn to be diligent in our responsibilities or to be disobedient to them. I believe that this also relates to self-control. When we practice diligence of self-control, we strengthen our resolve to complete tasks and/or abstain from behavior that will be our demise.

Two interesting study's shed light on child development. The first looks at a biological aspect, and the second a more psychological approach. In a study done by Belinda Needham (2012) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she found that the length of a Leukocyte Telomere, a segment of DNA that grows with age, is consistently longer in children in low SES communities. Specifically she found that children with parents that had low education levels (high school grad or lower) had Leukocyte Telomere length that resembled those of children about 6 years older (Needham 2012). furthermore, this problem, of having older cells indicated by the lengthened Teolmeres, has been shown to increase further problems in life such as heart disease and diabetes. Also, make note that that Obesity is the number one cause of heart disease and diabetes.

The study done by Bradley (2002) showed that stressful situations were more prevalent in low SES families. This supports the data given by Telomere length study because it showed that stressful circumstance, either by the parents or children, caused the aging of the cell which caused the lengthening of Leukocyte Telomeres.

Finally, We see that there are a variety of factors that affect the Rolling, Rolling, Rolling Effect. Not a one will be able to give a complete response to this effect. However, by taking a multidisciplinary perspective, Light will be able to be shed on the topic and new Ideas of how to better the community and help people escape the trap of poverty, we will be able to some problems that disciplinarians could only dream of solving!  



Black, J., & Macinko, J. (2008). Neighborhoods and obesity. Nutrition Reviews, 66(1), 2-20.

Bradley, R. F. (2002). SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT. Annual Review Of Psychology, 53(1), 371

Menifield, C., Doty, N., & Fletcher, A. (2008). Obesity in America. ABNF Journal, 19(3), 83-88

Needham, B. L., Fernandez, J. R., Lin, J., Epel, E. S., & Blackburn, E. H. (2012). Socioeconomic status and cell aging in children. Social Science & Medicine, 74(12), 1948-1951