Nonlinear Associations Between Built Environment and Overweight: Gender and Marital Status Differences in Urban China

Xiaohua Zhong, Yang Xiao and Yihui Huang ()
Additional contact information
Xiaohua Zhong: Institute of Sociology, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, No. 7, Lane 622, Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai 200020, China
Yang Xiao: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China
Yihui Huang: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: Overweight has become a major public health concern in China’s rapidly urbanizing cities. Patterns of environmental exposure differ notably between men and women, both before and after marriage. This study examines how built environment characteristics influence the risk of overweight, with particular attention to nonlinear associations as well as variations by marital status and gender. Drawing on survey data from 2634 Shanghai residents, we applied extreme gradient boosting to model complex environment–health relationships. The results indicate that greenness, park accessibility, population density, and transit conditions are associated with overweight through nonlinear pathways, with threshold and plateau effects suggesting that benefits taper off, or risks escalate, beyond certain levels. These optimal ranges differ across gender–marriage groups: moderate density and green exposure were generally protective, but the effective ranges were narrower for women and unmarried individuals. Married men benefited more consistently, likely supported by healthier routines reinforced through spousal support, whereas married women showed weaker or even adverse effects, potentially due to greater family responsibilities. Overall, the findings reveal that overweight is shaped by socially differentiated nonlinearities in environmental exposures. Urban planning and public health policies should therefore optimize built environment attributes within effective ranges and tailor interventions to diverse demographic groups.

Keywords: overweight; built environment; nonlinear associations; gender–marriage heterogeneity; threshold effects; extreme gradient boosting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/10/2064/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/10/2064/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:10:p:2064-:d:1772743

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().