Obesity and its relation to employment incomes: does the bias in self-reported BMI matter?
Date
2015
Authors
Perks, Tom
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Alberta
Abstract
This study explores what difference, if any, the bias in self-reported body mass index (BMI) has on our understanding of the relationship between body size and income attainment. To accomplish this, aggregated data from Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 of the Canada Health Measures Survey, in which information on both self-reported and measured BMI was collected, are used. Based on subsamples of female and male employees, OLS regression analyses contrasting the effect of self-reported and measured BMI on income show that for women, self-reported BMI leads to underestimates of a negative body size effect, whereas for men, self-reported BMI leads to overestimates of a positive body size effect. Additional analyses examining the appropriateness of correction factors to improve the accuracy of self-reported BMI effect estimates suggest correction factors do little to reduce these systematic errors.
Description
Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (CC BY 3.0) applies
Keywords
Body mass index , Income attainment , Measured and self-reported , Correction factors , Self-reported BMI , Measured BMI , Employment income
Citation
Perks, T. A. (2015). Obesity and its relation to employment income: Does the bias in self-reported BMI matter? Canadian Studies in Population, 42(3/4), 39-48.