Citation

Quintana-Navarrete M. J. Health Soc. Behav. 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/00221465231163906

PMID

37052319

Abstract

Sociological research suggests that violent environments contribute to excess weight, a pressing health issue worldwide. However, this research has neglected extreme forms of violence, such as armed conflicts, a theoretically significant omission because armed conflict could reasonably lead to weight loss, not weight gain. I examine the weight-related, short-term consequences of the Mexican "War on Organized Crime." I combine body mass index (N = 3,341) and waist circumference (N = 3,509) measures from the Mexico Family Life Survey with a novel data set on aggressions, confrontations, and executions between 2009 and 2011 (CIDE-PPD database) and exploit variation in the timing of the outcome relative to violent events taking place in the same residential environment. I find a robust and large positive association between armed conflict events and weight gain in adults and suggestive evidence of the behavioral, emotional, and physiological/biochemical pathways connecting those variables.

Language: en

Keywords

armed conflict; health outcomes; Mexican “War on Organized Crime,”; weight gain