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Associations of Neighborhood and School Socioeconomic and Social Contexts With Body Mass Index Among Urban Preadolescent Students
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Associations of Neighborhood and School Socioeconomic and Social Contexts With Body Mass Index Among Urban Preadolescent Students

Amy Carroll-Scott, Kathryn Gilstad-Hayden, Lisa Rosenthal, Adam Eldahan, Catherine McCaslin, Susan M Peters and Jeannette R Ickovics
American journal of public health (1971), v 105(12), pp 2496-2502
Dec 2015
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302882
PMID: 26469652
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2015.302882View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

Body Mass Index Child Connecticut - epidemiology Diet - statistics & numerical data Female Health Surveys Humans Male Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology Pediatric Obesity - etiology Residence Characteristics - statistics & numerical data Schools - statistics & numerical data Social Support Socioeconomic Factors Students - statistics & numerical data Urban Population - statistics & numerical data
We examined independent and synergistic effects of school and neighborhood environments on preadolescent body mass index (BMI) to determine why obesity rates nearly double during preadolescence. Physical measures and health surveys from fifth and sixth graders in 12 randomly selected schools in New Haven, Connecticut, in 2009 were matched to student sociodemographics and school- and residential census tract-level data, for a total of 811 urban preadolescents. Key independent variables included school connectedness, neighborhood social ties, and school and neighborhood socioeconomic status. We estimated cross-classified random-effects hierarchical linear models to examine associations between key school and neighborhood characteristics with student BMI. Greater average connectedness felt by students to their school was significantly associated with lower BMI. This association was stronger among students living in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of affluent neighbors. How schools engage and support students may affect obesity rates preferentially in higher-income neighborhoods. Further research should explore the associations between multiple environments to which children are exposed and obesity-related behaviors and outcomes. This understanding of the multiple social-spatial contexts that children occupy has potential to inform comprehensive and sustainable child obesity prevention efforts.

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18 citations in Web of Science
19 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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