Product of our environment? Place effects on Body Mass Index

JournalSocial Science and Medicine
AuthorsAlan Duncan, Astghik Mavisakalyan, Lili Loan Vu, Michael Windsor
PublishedNovember 2025
PublisherElsevier
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118728
Research ThemesHealth, Wellbeing and Disadvantage
VIEW PUBLICATION

Highlights

  • Place is responsible for over 15 per cent of the variation in weight in Australia.
  • Place also contributes to around half of the variation in food consumption.
  • The effects of place on weight vary by sex.

An under-explored aspect of body weight is the role that location plays in its determination.

To address this evidence gap, this study uses a dynamic event study framework to examine how weight changes for people who change their location and, by extension, how much of the overall variation in weight can be explained by place-based versus individual factors.

We then undertake a decomposition analysis on movers and non-movers to evaluate the role of place in differences in weight between groups of areas.

We also model the effects of place on common behavioural correlates of weight.

Using rich longitudinal survey data from Australia, we find a significant robust place effect on weight.

Our event study shows that place is responsible for 15. 5 per cent of the weight variation.

We find similarly sized place effects when comparing different groups of areas in our decomposition exercise.

Finally, we show that place exerts a strong influence, of around 50 per cent in some cases, on food consumption.