The intergenerational correlation in weight: how genetic resemblance reveals the social role of families

Weight Loss Programs: Why Do They Fail? A Multidimensional Approach for Obesity Management

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Despite the prevalence of weight loss programs, their success rates remain discouraging, with around half of individuals regaining lost weight within two years. The primary objective of this review is to explore the factors contributing to the failure of weight loss programs and to provide insights into effective weight management strategies.

RECENT FINDINGS

Factors contributing to the failure of weight loss programs include the impracticality of restrictive diets, potential metabolic impacts, limited focus on lifestyle changes, genetic predispositions, psychological influences, socioeconomic status, and medical conditions. A holistic approach considering these factors is crucial for safe and sustainable weight loss. Key findings indicate the importance of holistic approaches to weight management, including lifestyle modifications, medical interventions, and behavioral and psychological strategies. Effective weight loss strategies emphasize low-calorie, nutrient-rich diets, regular physical activity, and interventions tailored to individual needs. Combining multiple approaches offers the best chance of successful weight management and improved health outcomes. This review provides insights into the complexities of obesity management and the factors contributing to the failure of weight loss programs. It highlights the necessity of adopting a holistic approach that addresses dietary habits, physical activity, genetic factors, psychological well-being, and socioeconomic influences. Recommendations include implementing lifestyle modifications, medical interventions when necessary, and integrating behavioral and psychological support to achieve sustainable weight loss and mitigate the global health challenge posed by obesity.

Socioeconomic inequalities in intergenerational overweight and obesity transmission from mothers to offsprings in South Africa

This study assesses socioeconomic inequality in the intergenerational transmission of overweight and obesity from mothers to offsprings in South Africa, including the factors contributing to inequality. Data were drawn from the 2017 National Income Dynamic Study, which collected anthropometric and socioeconomic information. Non-pregnant mothers aged 15–49 years and their offsprings 0–14 years were included in the analysis. The dependent variables used in the study were the intergenerational transmission of overweight and obesity. Socioeconomic inequality was assessed using the concentration index. A positive index means that intergenerational overweight and obesity is more likely among the wealthier populations, while a negative index signifies the opposite. The concentration index was decomposed to understand the factors that explain inequalities in the transmission of overweight and obesity from mothers to offsprings. Concentration indices for the intergenerational transmission of overweight and obesity were positive for boys (0.17) and girls (0.23). Thus the intergenerational transmission of overweight and obesity occurs more among wealthier mothers. Although factors explaining socioeconomic inequality in the intergenerational transmission of overweight and obesity differed by offspring sex, mother's marital status (+38%) and socioeconomic status (around +8%) were central determinants of socioeconomic inequalities in intergenerational overweight, while mother's smoking (around +25%), education (about +13%) and employment status (around +12%) contributed to intergenerational obesity inequality. Policies to reduce overweight and obesity burdens and the intergenerational transmission of overweight and obesity in South Africa should target women who bear a significant burden of overweight and obesity and could transmit them to their offsprings. The policies should also recognise the key factors explaining these socioeconomic inequalities. This approach will reduce the future burden of diseases associated with overweight and obesity in South Africa and improve the country's overall health outcomes.

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Intergenerational overweight and obesity occurs more among richer mothers.

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Mother's marital status influenced intergenerational overweight inequality.

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Intergenerational obesity inequality was attributed to mother's smoking status.

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Factors explaining intergenerational health inequalities differed by offspring sex.

Is the intergenerational transmission of overweight 'gender assortative'?

Using almost two decades worth of data from the Health Survey for England, that contain representative records of clinically measured weight and height, this paper studies whether parents and children's overweight (including obesity) is 'gender assortative'. Our findings suggest that the intergenerational transmission of parent's overweight differs by children's sex and is statistically different for fathers and mothers. Gender assortative overweight is stronger among pre-school age and school-aged children. The parent-child associations are large and precisely estimated, heterogeneous by children's age and sex and stronger among white children and children of older parents. These results suggest there is a gender assortative intergenerational association of overweight.

Social vulnerabilities as risk factor of childhood obesity development and their role in prevention programs

INTRODUCTION

Large socioeconomic, gender, and ethnic inequalities exist in terms of childhood obesity worldwide. Children from low socioeconomic status families are more likely to have overweight/obesity and related cardiometabolic problems and future cancer risk. A wider concept are social vulnerabilities defined as social or economic characteristics or experiences negatively affecting children through behavioral, biological factors, or mental health. Social vulnerabilities include also therefore low subjective perceptions of social position.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to identify social vulnerabilities and to summarize their impact as obesity development risk factor. Preventive programs implemented targeting these vulnerable groups and their effectiveness are also discussed.

METHODS

Literature review based on the experience of the authors social vulnerabilities identified as risk factors for childhood obesity were children whose parents lack of a social network, low support from formal and informal sources, parental unemployment, belonging to a minority group or having migrant background, adverse childhood experiences including household dysfunction, violence and childhood maltreatment and other traumatic experiences, gender inequalities and being part of nontraditional families.

RESULTS

The impact of social vulnerabilities on childhood obesity is independent of SES; however, SES exacerbates or buffer the effect social vulnerabilities have on different lifestyles and stress. Behavioral, biological, and mental health mechanisms may explain the association between social vulnerabilities and childhood obesity.

CONCLUSIONS

Behaviors such as dietary intake, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and sleep are negatively affected by the stress and low levels of mental health derived from social vulnerabilities. It seems that high energy intakes rather than low physical activity levels might be the main driving force behind the obesity epidemic in vulnerable groups. Most of the prevention programs identified did not take into account social vulnerabilities and inequalities making them ineffective in most vulnerable groups. Interventions conducted in children from socially vulnerable group suggest modest but promising effects.

Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Diet Behaviors within Brazilian Families

Existing literature documents the key role that parents play in transmitting diet behaviors to their children; however, less is known about differences by parent and child gender within families, especially with attention to household socioeconomic status (SES). We use nationally representative household data from Brazil and ask how parent-child associations of diet behavior differ by gender within lower- and higher-SES households. Results indicate that both maternal and paternal diet behaviors are associated with sons' and daughters' diet behaviors, but the strength of these associations differs depending on the gender of both the parent and the child. Moreover, gender differences in parent-child diet resemblance exist primarily in lower-, but not in higher-SES households. These findings are important for understanding health processes that occur within families and lead to disparities across generations, especially in a middle-income country undergoing sharp economic and nutritional changes.

The Weight of Inequality: Socioeconomic Status and Adolescent Body Mass in Brazil

The high rate of obesity among adolescents is a global public health problem that has recently expanded to affect middle- and low-income countries. Brazil, which is undergoing a relatively rapid nutrition transition and has inadequate health systems, is currently experiencing the consequences of increasing rates of overweight and obesity concomitantly with the consequences of generations of malnourishment. Given this scenario, Brazil is an ideal context for examining the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and adolescent body mass, as well as how this relationship varies across very different regions within the same country and across the body mass index (BMI) continuum. Guided by a framework that integrates nutrition transition and fundamental cause theories, we use unique nationally representative data with measured height and weight for all household members to conduct quantile regression models. The results suggest that family socioeconomic conditions are important theoretical factors associated with adolescent BMI, but that the way in which family SES impinges on adolescent BMI varies across regions characterized by different locations in the nutrition transition and varying levels of economic development. We also find that family socioeconomic disadvantages operate very differently according to BMI status. The results show that the socioeconomic gradient of adolescent BMI varies by stages of the nutrition transition and economic development and across BMI percentiles.

Relationship between food insecurity, child weight status, and parent-reported child eating and snacking behaviors

PURPOSE

Prior studies showed that food insecurity may increase the odds of obesity in children and adults. We still know very little about the familial aggregation of obesity in food-insecure households or the mechanisms by which food insecurity confers an increased risk of obesity to children. The purpose of this study was to compare children and mothers from food-insecure and food-secure households in their weight status, child eating patterns/behaviors, and maternal feeding practices.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Fifty mothers of 8-10-year-old children were asked to complete questionnaires, including the U.S. Household Food Security survey, and had their own and their children's heights and weights measured.

RESULTS

The odds of a child being obese were five times higher for children from food-insecure households compared with children from food-secure households (95% confidence interval 1.15-20.8). In univariate analyses, children from food-insecure households showed significantly greater external eating, both past satiation and in the absence of hunger (p < .03), and mothers from food-insecure households expressed significantly greater concern about their children's weight and used restrictive feeding practices to a greater extent (p < .03) when compared with families from food-secure households. A greater proportion of children from food-secure households consumed three to four snacks per day (45.9 vs. 15.4%), while a higher proportion of children from food-insecure households consumed five or more snacks per day (15.4 vs. 0%; p = .02).

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

These findings provide further support for an association between food insecurity and childhood obesity and suggest that differences in external eating, child snacking patterns, and select maternal feeding practices may be implicated in food-insecure children's overconsumption of calories. When caring for food-insecure children, healthcare providers should screen for problematic eating patterns and feeding practices.

Family social capital and health - a systematic review and redirection

The level (or scale) at which social capital can be conceptualised and measured ranges potentially from the macro-level (regional or country level), to the meso-level (neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools), down to the individual level. However, one glaring gap in the conceptualisation of social capital within the empirical literature has been the level of the family. Our aim in this review is to examine the family as the 'missing level' in studies on social capital and health. To do so, we conducted a systematic review on the use and measurement of this notion in the health literature, with the final intention of articulating a direction for future research in the field. Our findings are consistent with the notion that family social capital is multidimensional and that its components have distinct effects on health outcomes. Further investigation is needed to understand the mechanisms through which family social capital is related to health, as well as determining the most valid ways to measure family social capital.

Genes and the intergenerational transmission of BMI and obesity

This paper compares the strength of intergenerational transmission of body mass index (BMI) and obesity in a sample of adoptees relative to a matched sample of biological children with similar observable characteristics. We find that BMI and obesity are strongly correlated among biological parent-child pairs, but there are no significant intergenerational associations in these health traits among adoptive parent-child pairs. The intergenerational elasticity of BMI for children to their parents is 0.2 in the matched biological sample, but indistinguishable from zero for adopted children with a standard error more than three times as large as the coefficient. Under reasonable assumptions, these findings indicate that the intergenerational transmission of BMI and obesity occurs primarily through genetic mechanisms. Additional analyses of transmission rates by parental gender and among step-parents and step-children support this conclusion. The role of determinants of BMI and obesity in the household environment in relation to our findings is discussed. Given the negative consequences of obesity on earnings and other economic measures, our results suggest that the genetic transmission of weight problems contributes substantially to intergenerational persistence in economic outcomes.

Influence of Parental and Some Demographic Characteristics on Overweight/Obesity Status among a Sample of Egyptian Children

BACKGROUND

Overweight/obesity is a multi-factorial problem, which results from rapidly changing social, economic, and physical environments that have led to an energy imbalance.

AIM

To identify the association between childhood overweight/obesity and some socio-demographic risk factors, as parental age, body mass index (BMI), education and occupation, family size and residence (urban/rural).

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Cross-sectional study included 154 children of both sexes; aged 5-18 years; with their parents; one of them was working at the National Research Centre and from their relatives and neighbours. Data was collected about the child birth weight, family size, parental ages, education, occupation and place of residence. Anthropometric measurements including weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) of children and their parents were conducted.

RESULTS

Obesity was detected among 19.5% of children (BMI > 95th percentile), 75.3% of their mothers and 49.6% of their fathers (BMI > 30 Kg/m^2). While overweight was present in 11.0% of the children (BMI > 85th- <95 percentile), 16.9% of their mothers and 36.5% of their fathers (BMI > 25-29.9 Kg/m^2). Child obesity was more prominent in urban than rural areas (21.3% versus 12.5%) and among housewives (22.8%) than among working mothers (16%, p < 0.016). Child overweight was more common in rural than urban areas (12.5% versus 10.7%) and among children with high father education (20%). Child BMI had significant positive correlations only with the child age, parental ages and BMIs, and family size. In spite of that, parental BMIs had significant positive correlations with each other and with family size, and significant negative correlations with maternal education and occupation and paternal education.

CONCLUSION

Childhood obesity and overweight were more prominent in urban than rural areas, among children with non-working housewives mothers and highly educated fathers (college or above). Parental education and occupation had an indirect significant effect on child BMI through their significant effect on parental BMIs.

The intergenerational transmission of BMI in China

Based on the China Health and Nutrition Survey longitudinal data from 1989 to 2009 and using BMI z-score as the measure of adiposity, we estimate the intergenerational transmission of BMI in China. The OLS estimates suggest that a one standard deviation increase in father's or mother's BMI is associated with an increase of around 20% in child's Body Mass Index (BMI) z-score. These estimates decrease to around 14% when we control for family fixed effects. We examine the heterogeneity of this BMI intergenerational transmission process across family income, parental occupation and poverty status and also find this intergenerational correlation tends to be higher among children of higher BMI levels, though this tendency becomes weaker as children approach adulthood.

Epidemiological Paradox or Immigrant Vulnerability? Obesity Among Young Children of Immigrants

According to the "immigrant epidemiological paradox," immigrants and their children enjoy health advantages over their U.S.-born peers--advantages that diminish with greater acculturation. We investigated child obesity as a potentially significant deviation from this paradox for second-generation immigrant children. We evaluated two alternate measures of mother's acculturation: age at arrival in the United States and English language proficiency. To obtain sufficient numbers of second-generation immigrant children, we pooled samples across two related, nationally representative surveys. Each included measured (not parent-reported) height and weight of kindergartners. We also estimated models that alternately included and excluded mother's pre-pregnancy weight status as a predictor. Our findings are opposite to those predicted by the immigrant epidemiological paradox: children of U.S.-born mothers were less likely to be obese than otherwise similar children of foreign-born mothers; and the children of the least-acculturated immigrant mothers, as measured by low English language proficiency, were the most likely to be obese. Foreign-born mothers had lower (healthier) pre-pregnancy weight than U.S.-born mothers, and this was protective against their second-generation children's obesity. This protection, however, was not sufficiently strong to outweigh factors associated or correlated with the mothers' linguistic isolation and marginal status as immigrants.

An examination of eating behaviors, physical activity, and obesity in african american adolescents: gender, socioeconomic status, and residential status differences

BACKGROUND

African American adolescents experience higher rates of obesity and have an increased risk of obesity-related diseases than do White American adolescents. Despite culturally sensitive obesity preventive interventions, obesity rates are increasing within the African American adolescent population. Current obesity interventions do not usually address the heterogeneity (e.g., socioeconomic status [SES], gender, and residential status differences) within the African American adolescent community that can affect the efficacy of these interventions.

PURPOSE

To examine the gender, SES, and residential status differences related to obesity and weight behaviors in African American adolescents.

METHODS

A descriptive correlational study was conducted with 15- to 17-year-old African American adolescents (n = 145) from community clinics, youth organizations, churches, and social networks in metropolitan and inner-city Detroit. Data were collected through use of survey methods and analyzed with use of descriptive statistics, independent sample t tests, and multiple regression equations.

RESULTS

Female adolescents consumed foods higher in fat and calories (t = -2.36, p = .019) and had more body fat (t = -9.37, p = .000) than did males. Adolescents of lower SES consumed food higher in fat and calories (t = -2.23, p = .027) and had higher body mass (t = -2.57, p = .011) than did adolescents of higher SES. Inner-city African American adolescents had higher levels of physical activity (t = -2.39, p = .018) and higher body mass (t = 2.24, p = .027) than did suburban African American adolescent counterparts. Gender, SES, and residential status were statistically significant predictors of eating behaviors, physical activity, body mass index, and body fat.

CONCLUSIONS

The initial findings from the study will assist in better understanding the obesity epidemic that affects African American adolescents in disparate proportions.

IMPLICATIONS

Further examination of the study variables is essential to serve as a basis for developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant targeted interventions with this population. Health care providers and obesity researchers who work with youth can use the initial findings from this study to advocate for healthy lifestyles while reducing the obesity disparity within the African American adolescent population.

Identification as overweight by medical professionals: relation to eating disorder diagnosis and risk

PURPOSE

Discussions about weight between medical professionals and young adults may increase risk of eating disorders (EDs). Clarifying the relation between screening for overweight and ED risk is needed.

METHODS

548 college-age women were classified as at-risk (n=441) or with an ED (n=107), and were assessed for disordered eating attitudes, behaviors, and relevant history, including, "Has a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional ever told you that you were overweight?" Regression analyses were used to evaluate the relations between being identified as overweight and current disordered eating behaviors, attitudes, and ED diagnosis, without and with covariates (history of weight-related teasing, history of an ED, family history of being identified as overweight, and current body mass index).

RESULTS

146 (26.6%) women reported being previously identified as overweight by a medical professional. There was no relation between being previously identified as overweight and having an ED. Those identified as overweight were more likely to have weight/shape concerns above a high-risk cutoff, but showed no difference in dietary restraint, binge eating, purging behaviors, or excessive exercise compared to those not identified.

CONCLUSIONS

Being previously identified as overweight by a medical professional was associated with increased weight/shape concerns but not with current disordered eating behaviors or ED status. Minimizing the potential negative effects of overweight screening on weight and shape concerns by providing patients with strategies to increase healthy lifestyle behaviors and long-term support for healthy weight loss goals may have a positive impact on reducing the public health problem of overweight and obesity.

Within-family obesity associations: evaluation of parent, child, and sibling relationships

BACKGROUND

How parent and sibling obesity status comparatively shape a child's obesity is unknown.

PURPOSE

To investigate how the obesity status of different children within the same family is related to a parent or sibling's obesity.

METHODS

A national sample of adults in 10,244 American households was surveyed during 2011; data were analyzed in 2012-2013. Of these households, 1,948 adults had one or two children; provided sociodemographic information; and reported on adult and child height and weight, physical activity, and food environment. Logistic regression models were estimated in which the outcome of interest was child obesity status, with parent and sibling obesity as key predictors, adjusting for a range of both adult and child social and demographic confounders.

RESULTS

In one-child households, it was 2.2 times more likely (SE=0.5) that the child would be obese if a parent was obese. In households with two children, having an obese younger sibling was more strongly associated with elder-child obesity (OR=5.4, SE=1.9) than parent's obesity status (OR=2.3, SE=0.8). Having an obese elder sibling was associated with younger-child obesity (OR=5.6, SE=1.9), and parent obesity status was no longer significant. Within-family sibling obesity was more strongly patterned between siblings of the same gender than between different genders, and child physical activity was significantly associated with obesity status.

CONCLUSIONS

Considering offspring composition and sibling gender may be beneficial in childhood obesity prevention and intervention.

The impact of parental educational trajectories on their adult offspring's overweight/obesity status: a study of three generations of Swedish men and women

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of grandparental and parental education and parental educational trajectory on their adult offspring's overweight/obesity. We used register data from the Uppsala Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study, based on a representative cohort born in Sweden 1915-1929 (G1). Our sample included 5122 women and 11,204 men who were grandchildren of G1 (G3), their parents (G2), and grandparents. G3's overweight/obesity (BMI≥25 kg/m2) was based on pre-pregnancy weight/height for women before their first birth (average age=26 years), and measured weight/height at conscription for men (average age=18 years). G1's, G2's, and G3's highest educational attainment was obtained from routine registers and classified as low, intermediate, or high based on respective sample distributions. Parental (G2) educational trajectory was defined as change in education between their own and their highest educated parent (G1), classified into 5 categories: always advantaged (AA), upward trajectory (UT), stable-intermediate (SI), downward trajectory (DT), and always disadvantaged (AD). We used hierarchical gender-stratified logistic regression models adjusted for G3's age, education, year of BMI collection, lineage and G2's year of birth and income. Grandparental and parental education were negatively associated with men's odds of overweight/obesity and parental education affected women's overweight/obesity risk. Furthermore, men and women whose parents belonged to the UT, SI, DT, and AD groups had greater odds of overweight/obesity compared to men and women whose parents belonged to the AA group (adjusted for G3's age, year of BMI collection, lineage, and G2's year of birth). These associations were attenuated when further adjusting for parental income and G3's own education. Socioeconomic inequalities can have long-term consequences and impact the health of future generations. For overweight/obesity in concurrent young cohorts, this inequality is not fully offset by upward educational trajectory in their parent's generation.

Early-life social origins of later-life body weight: the role of socioeconomic status and health behaviors over the life course

Using the 1957-2004 data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we apply structural equation modeling to examine gender-specific effects of family socioeconomic status (SES) at age 18 on body weight at age 65. We further explore SES and health behaviors over the life course as mechanisms linking family background and later-life body weight. We find that early-life socioeconomic disadvantage is related to higher body weight at age 65 and a steeper weight increase between midlife and late life. These adverse effects are stronger among women than men. Significant mediators of the effect of parents' SES include adolescent body mass (especially among women) as well as exercise and SES in midlife. Yet, consistent with the critical period mechanism, the effect of early-life SES on late-life body weight persists net of all mediating variables. This study expands current understanding of life-course mechanisms that contribute to obesity and increase biological vulnerability to social disadvantage.

My sibling, my weight. How gender, sibling gender, sibling weight and sibling weight level perception influence weight perception accuracy

Objective:

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of sibling weight level perception and sibling weight on the accuracy of respondent weight level perception dependent on sibling-pair gender composition.

Design:

A cross-sectional study based on the survey data, which include the children of a nationally representative sample of Danes. Logit regression models were used.

Subjects:

Two thousand nine hundred and sixty-eight respondents comprising 397 female sibling pairs, 357 male sibling pairs and 730 opposite-sex sibling pairs. The inclusion of both same-sex siblings and opposite-sex siblings is novel for studies on weight perceptions.

Measurements:

Weight underestimation and weight overestimation were calculated on the basis of difference between actual weight level and self-perceived weight level. Respondent gender, sibling gender, sibling body mass index (BMI) and the siblings' self-perceived weight level were included as the main controls.

Results:

Women frequently overestimate their weight level, whereas men often underestimate theirs. Women are more likely to overestimate their weight if their sister does the same but less likely if their brother overestimates his weight. Likewise, women are more likely to underestimate their weight if their sister also underestimates her weight but less likely if their brother underestimates his weight. The higher the BMI of their brother and the lower the BMI of their sister, the more likely men are to underestimate their own weight level.

Conclusion:

Results underline the importance of social context when looking at body formation and weight perceptions. The weight and weight perceptions of siblings influence own weight perception. Gender is central to studies on weight-related issues, not only respondent gender - equally so the gender of interaction.

Multiple Imputation For Combined-Survey Estimation With Incomplete Regressors In One But Not Both Surveys

Within-survey multiple imputation (MI) methods are adapted to pooled-survey regression estimation where one survey has more regressors, but typically fewer observations, than the other. This adaptation is achieved through: (1) larger numbers of imputations to compensate for the higher fraction of missing values; (2) model-fit statistics to check the assumption that the two surveys sample from a common universe; and (3) specificying the analysis model completely from variables present in the survey with the larger set of regressors, thereby excluding variables never jointly observed. In contrast to the typical within-survey MI context, cross-survey missingness is monotonic and easily satisfies the Missing At Random (MAR) assumption needed for unbiased MI. Large efficiency gains and substantial reduction in omitted variable bias are demonstrated in an application to sociodemographic differences in the risk of child obesity estimated from two nationally-representative cohort surveys.

Family structure and obesity in early childhood

This study informs family and child health research by using longitudinal Fragile Families data to assess how family structure and transitions are associated with changes in children's BMI and weight status between ages three and five. Concerns in family structure literature about biases due to selectivity are reduced through the use of change score models and by controlling for parental BMI. The findings indicate unhealthy BMI gain and an increased risk of becoming overweight/obese among children living with a mother who recently dissolved a union or had been living without a partner for at least 2years compared with those in stable married parent families. Children with single mothers who entered a new union had significantly healthier BMI trajectories than those whose mothers remained single or recently became single. These results suggest the importance of two-parent family contexts for children's healthy physical development, and that single mothers may need additional support to better manage their children's BMI.

Social stratification and adolescent overweight in the United States: how income and educational resources matter across families and schools

The current study examines how poverty and education in both the family and school contexts influence adolescent weight. Prior research has produced an incomplete and often counterintuitive picture. We develop a framework to better understand how income and education operate alone and in conjunction with each other across families and schools. We test it by analyzing data from Wave 1 of the U.S.-based National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 16,133 in 132 schools) collected in 1994-1995. Using hierarchical logistic regression models and parallel indicators of family- and school-level poverty and educational resources, we find that at the family-level, parent's education, but not poverty status, is associated with adolescent overweight. At the school-level, the concentration of poverty within a school, but not the average level of parent's education, is associated with adolescent overweight. Further, increases in school poverty diminish the effectiveness of adolescents' own parents' education for protecting against the risks of overweight. The findings make a significant contribution by moving beyond the investigation of a single socioeconomic resource or social context. The findings push us to more fully consider when, where, and why money and education matter independently and jointly across health-related contexts.

Obesogenic family types identified through latent profile analysis

BACKGROUND

Obesity may cluster in families due to shared physical and social environments.

PURPOSE

This study aims to identify family typologies of obesity risk based on family environments.

METHODS

Using 2007-2008 data from 706 parent/youth dyads in Minnesota, we applied latent profile analysis and general linear models to evaluate associations between family typologies and body mass index (BMI) of youth and parents.

RESULTS

Three typologies described most families with 18.8% "Unenriched/Obesogenic," 16.9% "Risky Consumer," and 64.3% "Healthy Consumer/Salutogenic." After adjustment for demographic and socioeconomic factors, parent BMI and youth BMI Z-scores were higher in unenriched/obesogenic families (BMI difference = 2.7, p < 0.01 and BMI Z-score difference = 0.51, p < 0.01, respectively) relative to the healthy consumer/salutogenic typology. In contrast, parent BMI and youth BMI Z-scores were similar in the risky consumer families relative to those in healthy consumer/salutogenic type.

CONCLUSIONS

We can identify family types differing in obesity risks with implications for public health interventions.

Measures of the intergenerational transmission of body mass index between mothers and their children in the United States, 1981-2004

This research provides estimates of the intergenerational persistence of body mass index (BMI) between women and their children when both are at similar stages of the lifecycle. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the Young Adults of the NLSY79, associations between the weight status of women and their children are measured when both generations are between the ages of 16 and 24. In the entire sample, the measured intergenerational correlation of BMI is significantly different from zero and equal to 0.35. This result differs by gender with a BMI correlation between female children and their mothers of 0.38, compared to a significantly lower BMI correlation of 0.32 between mothers and their sons. Measures of this relationship across the distribution of BMI using quantile regression and quadrant dependence techniques indicate that the intergenerational persistence of BMI is strongest at higher levels of BMI. Strong dependence across generations is found when categorical outcomes of obesity and overweight are implemented. These results provide evidence of the strong persistence of weight problems across generations which may affect economic mobility within families.

Maternal obesity: consequences and prevention strategies

Maternal obesity is associated with pregnancy complications and birth defects. Infants born to obese mothers may be at greater risk for childhood and adult obesity. Preconception planning with women of childbearing age should include information on the potential effects of obesity during pregnancy.