In this study, we use attainment of a college degree as our environmental indicator because educational status is regularly linked to physical size and obesity-related phenotypes (Lamerz et al. 2005). Nutrition and exercise are the more proximate determinants of weight gain, but these behaviors are distally linked to socioeconomic position (Faith and Kral 2006). Because fast-food consumption, skipping breakfast, and physical inactivity are all strongly associated with lower socioeconomic status as well as higher BMI, we characterize educational attainment as a fundamental cause of health and health behaviors (Link and Phelan 1995). Educational status is also linked to the quality of the social and built environments of people's neighborhoods (Popkin et al. 2005). In one study (Estabrooks et al. 2003), the researchers demonstrated that public exercise outlets are significantly less likely to be located in poor communities, and these same communities are perceived by the residents as less safe, making parents more likely to reduce the physical activities of their children (Lumeng et al. 2006). Relatively poor neighborhoods are also significantly closer to fast-food restaurants (Reidpath et al. 2002) and
