Department of Health, & Health Performance, University of Houston, 3875 Holman Street, Garrison Gymnasium, Room 104, Houston, TX, 77204-6015, USA.
School of Social Work, Temple University, 1301 Cecil B. Moore Ave. Ritter Annex 549, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA.
J Youth Adolesc. 2020 Aug;49(8):1645-1662. doi: 10.1007/s10964-020-01249-3. Epub 2020 May 6.
There is evidence that poverty is related to adverse child health outcomes. Yet, evidence is lacking on how economic hardship experiences during early childhood are related to adolescent obesity, how the relationship may differ by child sex, in addition to the potential child and maternal behavioral factors that link economic hardship and adolescent obesity. The purpose of the current study was to address this gap by using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 1814). The analytic sample included 50.5% girls, 20% experiencing overweight status, and 19% experiencing obesity. Majority of the adolescents were born to non-Hispanic black (49%), U.S. born (86%), married/cohabitating mothers (61%) with high school or greater level of education (75%). The economic hardship trajectory classes were determined using the latent growth mixture modeling approach and supported a 4-class trajectory model, with 5% of the adolescents in the high-increasing economic hardship trajectory class. The children in the high-increasing economic hardship class had increased odds of developing overweight/obesity in adolescence compared to those in low-stable class. This association was significantly moderated by child sex (i.e., relationship was significant for adolescent boys). Parenting stress and child snacking behaviors did not significantly mediate the association between economic hardship classes and overweight/obesity. Economic hardships that increase through early childhood need to be recognized as an obesity risk factor particularly for adolescent boys.
有证据表明，贫困与儿童健康不良结果有关。然而，关于幼儿期经济困难经历如何与青少年肥胖有关，以及这种关系如何因儿童性别而异，以及可能将经济困难与青少年肥胖联系起来的儿童和母亲行为因素，证据尚不足。本研究旨在通过使用脆弱家庭和儿童福利研究（N=1814）的纵向数据来解决这一差距。分析样本包括 50.5%的女孩，20%超重，19%肥胖。大多数青少年的母亲是非西班牙裔黑人（49%），出生于美国（86%），已婚/同居（61%），母亲受过高中或更高水平的教育（75%）。经济困难轨迹类别是使用潜在增长混合模型方法确定的，并支持 4 类轨迹模型，其中 5%的青少年处于经济困难急剧增加轨迹类别。与处于低稳定类别的青少年相比，处于经济困难急剧增加类别的青少年在青少年时期超重/肥胖的几率增加。这种关联被儿童性别显著调节（即，这种关系对青少年男孩是显著的）。育儿压力和儿童零食行为并不能显著调节经济困难类别与超重/肥胖之间的关联。需要认识到，整个幼儿期不断增加的经济困难是肥胖的一个风险因素，尤其是对青少年男孩而言。
