Interaction between Parental Education and Household Wealth on Children’s Obesity Risk

Abstract

Parents’ education and household wealth cannot be presumed to operate independently of each other. However, in traditional studies on the impact of social inequality on obesity, education and financial wealth tend to be viewed as separable processes. The present study examines the interaction of parents’ education and household wealth in relation to childhood obesity. Anthropometric measurement and questionnaire surveys were carried out on 3670 children (aged 9–12 years) and their parents from 26 elementary schools in northeast China. Results showed that the interaction term was significant for household wealth and father’s education (p < 0.01), while no significant interaction between household wealth and mother’s education was found. In a separate analysis, the interaction was statistically significant among girls for obesity risk based on BMI (p = 0.02), and among urban children for both obesity risk based on BMI (p = 0.01) and abdominal obesity risk based on WHR (p = 0.03). Specifically, when household wealth increased from the first quintile to the fifth quintile, OR for father’s education decreased from higher than 1 (OR = 1.95; 95% CI: 1.12–3.38) to non-significant for girl’s obesity risk, from non-significant to lower than 1 for urban children’s obesity risk (OR = 0.52; 95% CI: 0.32–0.86 for the fourth quintile; OR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.19–0.73 for the fifth quintile) and from higher than 1 (OR = 1.61; 95% CI: 1.04–2.05) to non-significant for urban children’s abdominal obesity risk. These findings indicate that father’s education level interacts with household wealth to influence obesity among girls and urban children in northeast China.

Socioeconomic inequalities in children’s weight, height and BMI trajectories in Norway

“…In addition, limited evidence of a potential interaction between SEP indicators (i.e. education and income) on its association with OW/OB exists 32 .…”

Growth and Weight Status in Chinese Children and Their Association with Family Environments

“…In addition, family background also played a significant role in shaping children’s body mass. The current literature suggests that children who grow up in more affluent families have a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity [ 17 ], and children with siblings are less likely to be overweight and obese than children in one-child families [ 10 ]. In addition, children’s risks of overweight and obesity are positively associated with parental education and BMI [ 10 , 17 ].…”

Unintended consequences of programmatic changes to infant and young child feeding practices in Bangladesh

“…Among the factors in the conceptual framework, child's sex, caregiver's age, caregiver's religion, father's age and incentivize to SS are directly linked to IYCF practices (Issaka et al, 2015; Kabir et al, 2012; Mukta & Ahmed, 2012). Before being linked to IYCF practices, wealth index and effective coverage of MNP depend on both father's and caregiver's education (Liu et al, 2018; Sarma et al, 2020a). Parental education has a potential role to improve wealth status and educated parents are more likely to feed MNP regularly to their children (Liu et al, 2018; Sarma et al, 2020a).…”

“…Before being linked to IYCF practices, wealth index and effective coverage of MNP depend on both father's and caregiver's education (Liu et al, 2018; Sarma et al, 2020a). Parental education has a potential role to improve wealth status and educated parents are more likely to feed MNP regularly to their children (Liu et al, 2018; Sarma et al, 2020a). The effective coverage of MNP is also linked to the household size (Sarma et al, 2020b).…”