January 2018 – 31 January 2021
This research project, conducted between 2018 and early 2021, investigated the social and developmental origins and consequences of overweight and obesity, negative body image, disordered eating, and impaired psychological wellbeing. It did so across the life course, and across generations, of parents and children in South Africa and Sweden.
In focussing on improving understandings of the role psychological wellbeing plays in the development of overweight and obesity, special attention was paid to identifying modifiable risk factors and social determinants of health, such as socio-demographic characteristics, family and social environment and social mobility – identified as possible factors in mediating and/or moderating the relationship between body mass index and psychological wellbeing across life courses. Sub-studies included:
The project used existing complementary information from surveys, cohort studies and register data linkages in South Africa, Sweden and Australia, and applied methods from life course and social epidemiology.
Preliminary findings were presented at the 2018 National Nutrition Congress.
The project was undertaken in partnership with the South African Human Sciences Research Council and two Swedish educational institutes: Stockholm University and the Karolinska Institut. It was jointly financed by the South African Medical Research Council and the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE).