Abstract Durable goods provide conventional proxies for household wealth, which, in turn, may increase the tendency to consume healthier food products and engage in leisure-time physical exercise. Higher car ownership levels, on the other hand, may reduce the tendency to participate in utilitarian, non-exercise-related physical activities such as walking to work and biking to do errands. Based on a recent longitudinal two-year Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) survey, we examine the correlation between the number of cars owned by households and household members' body mass index (BMI) for adult female and male respondents below the workforce retirement age. Results indicate that projected BMI of native Israeli Jewish females and Jewish immigrants from Asian-African countries drops significantly, while compared with baseline native Jewish Israelis, the projected BMI decrease among Arab females is attenuated significantly with increased car ownership levels. These outcomes suggest that programs aimed at alleviating poverty may have the additional benefit of promoting obesity-reducing activities, particularly among the population of native Jewish Israeli females and immigrants from Asian African countries.

中文翻译：

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身体脂肪会随着汽车拥有率而变化吗？性别差异纵向调查

摘要 耐用品为家庭财富提供了传统的替代品，这反过来可能会增加消费更健康食品和从事休闲体育锻炼的趋势。另一方面，较高的汽车拥有率可能会减少参与实用的、与运动无关的体育活动的倾向，例如步行上班和骑自行车办事。根据以色列中央统计局 (CBS) 最近的一项为期两年的纵向调查，我们研究了退休年龄以下的成年女性和男性受访者的家庭拥有汽车数量与家庭成员体重指数 (BMI) 之间的相关性年龄。结果表明，来自亚非国家的以色列本土犹太女性和犹太移民的预计 BMI 显着下降，而与基线本土犹太以色列人相比，阿拉伯女性的预期 BMI 下降随着汽车拥有量的增加而显着减弱。这些结果表明，旨在减轻贫困的计划可能具有促进减少肥胖活动的额外好处，特别是在以色列本土犹太女性和来自亚非国家的移民人群中。