Obesity in the transition to adulthood: Predictions across race/ethnicity, immigrant generation, and sex

Kathleen Mullan Harris, Krista M. Perreira, Dohoon Lee

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Objective: To trace how racial/ethnic and immigrant disparities in body mass index (BMI) change over time as adolescents (age, 11-19 years) transition to young adulthood (age, 20-28 years). Design: We used growth curve modeling to estimate the pattern of change in BMI from adolescence through the transition to adulthood. Setting: All participants in the study were residents of the United States enrolled in junior high school or high school during the 1994-1995 school year. Participants: More than 20 000 adolescents from nationally representative data interviewed at wave I (1994-1995) and followed up in wave II (1996) and III (2001-2002) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health when the sample was in early adulthood. Main Exposures: Race/ethnicity, immigrant generation, and sex. Outcome Measure: Body mass index. Results: Findings indicate significant differences in both the level and change in BMI across age by sex, race/ ethnicity, and immigrant generation. Females, secondand third-generation immigrants, and Hispanic and black individuals experience more rapidly increasing BMIs from adolescence into young adulthood. Increases in BMI are relatively lower for males, first-generation immigrants, and white and Asian individuals. Conclusion: Disparities in BMI and prevalence of overweight and obesity widen with age as adolescents leavehome and begin independent lives as young adults in their 20s.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)1022-1028
    Number of pages7
    JournalArchives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
    Volume163
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Nov 2009

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health

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