2B. (Econ 203) Problem Description: The State of North Carolina is interested in initiating an effort to reduce adult obesity. The State would like to know which groups of adults are most at-risk for high BMI and what factors lead to high BMI in order to better target the intervention. You are asked to explore what factors are associated with individuals' Body Mass Index (BMI), a measure of weight for height (weight (kg)/ height(m)?). You will use data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey Adult Sample File. This is a large, nationally representative sample from the United States. For this study, you will restrict your sample to non-Hispanic white males ages 18-65. You will explore how factors such as age and marital status are related to having high BMI. You will also consider whether the following behaviors are associated with BMI: smoking and hours of sleep. You will estimate the following regression equations: BMI = a + Biage; + B2age? +B3married + B4smokeri +B5sleepi + i (1) = In(BMI;) = a + B age + B2age + B3married + Basmoker; + Bsleepi + (2) = Table 1: Estimates from a Regression of BMI and Log(BMI) on Basic Demographics and Behavior Variables Mean of Variable (SD) Dependent Variable: BMI Dependent Variable: Log(BMI) Age 42.448 (13.512) Age (1) 0.349 (0.360) -0.003 (0.0004) 0.672 (0.143) (2) 0.013 (0.001) -0.0001 (0.00001) 0.027 (0.005) Married (0/1) 0.483 (0.500) 2B. (Econ 203) Problem Description: The State of North Carolina is interested in initiating an effort to reduce adult obesity. The State would like to know which groups of adults are most at-risk for high BMI and what factors lead to high BMI in order to better target the intervention. You are asked to explore what factors are associated with individuals' Body Mass Index (BMI), a measure of weight for height (weight (kg)/ height(m)?). You will use data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey Adult Sample File. This is a large, nationally representative sample from the United States. For this study, you will restrict your sample to non-Hispanic white males ages 18-65. You will explore how factors such as age and marital status are related to having high BMI. You will also consider whether the following behaviors are associated with BMI: smoking and hours of sleep. You will estimate the following regression equations: BMI = a + Biage; + B2age? +B3married + B4smokeri +B5sleepi + i (1) = In(BMI;) = a + B age + B2age + B3married + Basmoker; + Bsleepi + (2) = Table 1: Estimates from a Regression of BMI and Log(BMI) on Basic Demographics and Behavior Variables Mean of Variable (SD) Dependent Variable: BMI Dependent Variable: Log(BMI) Age 42.448 (13.512) Age (1) 0.349 (0.360) -0.003 (0.0004) 0.672 (0.143) (2) 0.013 (0.001) -0.0001 (0.00001) 0.027 (0.005) Married (0/1) 0.483 (0.500)
