Understanding childhood obesity in America: Linkages between household income, community resources, and children's behaviors

Eagle, Taylor; Sheetz, Anne H.; Gurm, Roopa; Woodward, Alan C.; Kline–Rogers, Eva; Leibowitz, Robert; DuRussel-Weston, Jean; Palma-Davis, LaVaughn; Aaronson, Susan; Fitzgerald, Cheryl; Mitchell, Lisa M.; Rogers, Bruce; Bruenger, Patricia; Skala, Katherine A.; Goldberg, Caren S.; Jackson, Elizabeth A.; Erickson, Steven R.; Eagle, Kim A.

doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2012.02.025

Cited by 88 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…2,16,19,20 This study showed the independent relationship of community income status and rates of overweight/obese status in 68 school districts representing a majority of the school districts in Massachusetts. Importantly, it was illustrated that race/ethnicity in communities may not be a significant correlate with overweight/ obese status once the community's income is considered.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The benefits of Project Healthy Schools appear to be especially favorable in lower-income communities. 20 This study has both limitations and strengths. The major limitation is that whereas the information on BMI was gathered from 111,799 unique children, the information on race/ethnicity and SES represented state-reported community estimates for each of the 68 school districts that were studied.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19 This study showed that lower household income was strongly correlated with a higher incidence of childhood obesity in Massachusetts. 20 However, it is unclear whether race/ethnicity or income status are risk factors for obesity when the other variable is controlled. This report explores this interaction between community income, race/ethnicity, and the community incidence of childhood obesity among 68 Massachusetts school districts and 111,799 students in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10 collected in the 2009 calendar year.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Relationship between Childhood Obesity, Low Socioeconomic Status, and Race/Ethnicity: Lessons from Massachusetts

et al. 2015

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Background: Previous studies have shown race/ethnicity, particularly African American and/or Hispanic status, to be a predictor of overweight/obese status in children. However, these studies have failed to adjust for low socioeconomic status (SES). This study assessed whether race/ethnicity remained an independent predictor of childhood obesity when accounting for variations in SES (lowincome) among communities in Massachusetts.Methods: This study was based on 2009 summarized data from 68 Massachusetts school districts with 111,799 students in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10. We studied the relationship between the rate of overweight/obese students (mean = 0.32; range = 0.10-0.46), the rate of African American and Hispanic students (mean = 0.17; range = 0.00-0.90), and the rate of low-income students (mean = 0.27; range = 0.02-0.87) in two and three dimensions. The main effect of the race/ethnicity rate, the low-income rate, and their interaction on the overweight and obese rate was investigated by multiple regression modeling.Results: Low-income was highly associated with overweight/obese status ( p < 0.0001), whereas the effect of race/ethnicity ( p = 0.27) and its interaction ( p = 0.23) with low-income were not statistically significant. For every 1% increase in low-income, there was a 1.17% increase in overweight/obese status. This pattern was observed across all African American and Hispanic rates in the communities studied.Conclusions: Overweight/obese status was highly prevalent among Massachusetts students, varying from 10% to 46% across communities. Although there were higher rates of overweight/obese status among African American and Hispanic students, the relationship disappeared when controlling for family income. Our findings suggest low SES plays a more significant role in the nation's childhood obesity epidemic than race/ethnicity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Relationship between Childhood Obesity, Low Socioeconomic Status, and Race/Ethnicity: Lessons from Massachusetts

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“…The prevalence of obesity has especially increased markedly in adolescents in recent decades. The rate of obese adolescents aged [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] in the United States increased from 5% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2010 [2]. Adolescence is a critical stage for psychological and physical development since any excessive weight gained in this stage may be easily transferred to adulthood and may affect the quality of life.…”

Section: Introduction *mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Family income had a larger effect for Hispanic children than for nonHispanic whites and African-Americans [13]. In underprivileged communities, children exhibit poor dietary and physical behaviors that affect obesity [14].…”

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Effects of summer school participation and psychosocial outcomes on changes in body composition and physical fitness during summer break

Park

Man-Gyoon

2015

J. Exerc. Nutr, Biochem.

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Kyung-Shin Park and Man-Gyoon Lee. Effects of summer school participation and psychosocial outcomes on changes in body composition and physical fitness during summer break. JENB., Vol. 19, No. 2, pp.81-90, 2015 [Purpose] Evidence suggests that adolescents gain more weight during the summer break than they do during the school year, and that participation in the summer school program is beneficial in maintaining their healthy lifestyle. It is known that obesity and physical fitness in adolescents can be affected by their socio-economic and psychological status, especially during a long school break. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of summer school participation and psychosocial outcomes on changes in body composition and physical fitness in underprivileged adolescents during the summer break.[Methods] Body composition and physical fitness in 138 underprivileged adolescents were measured at the beginning and end of the summer break. A survey on socio-economic and psychological status was conducted at the beginning of the summer break. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests were used for data analysis. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to establish a relation between psychological outcomes and changes in body composition and physical fitness during the summer break.[Results] Significant increases in body weight (p = .003) and % body fat (p = .014) as well as a decrease in VO2max (p = .018) were found in summer school non-attendants during the summer whereas no significant changes were found in summer school attendants. Summer school non-attendants with lower psychosocial outcomes had a greater decline in physical fitness and weight gain; however, summer school attendants were not affected by psychosocial outcomes. The summer school program effectively prevented summer weight gain among underprivileged adolescents due to the structured environment, restricted food access, and scheduled time for exercise in addition to minimizing the effects of their psychosocial outcomes.[Conclusion] Results indicated that summer school non-attendants may require comprehensive intervention for psychosocial outcomes and nutritional education to maintain body weight and physical fitness levels during the summer break. [Key words] adolescent obesity, summer break, weight gain, underprivileged adolescents.

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Management of Obesity Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence

Kühnen

2023

Endocrinology

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Understanding childhood obesity in America: Linkages between household income, community resources, and children's behaviors

Cited by 88 publications

References 38 publications

The Relationship between Childhood Obesity, Low Socioeconomic Status, and Race/Ethnicity: Lessons from Massachusetts

The Relationship between Childhood Obesity, Low Socioeconomic Status, and Race/Ethnicity: Lessons from Massachusetts

Effects of summer school participation and psychosocial outcomes on changes in body composition and physical fitness during summer break

Management of Obesity Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence

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