School-level economic disadvantage and obesity in middle school children in central Texas, USA: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity 2015-07, Vol.12 Suppl 1 (S1), p.S8-S8, Article S8
• Main Authors: Springer, Andrew E, Li, Linlin, Ranjit, Nalini, Delk, Joanne, Mehta, Kajal, Kelder, Steven H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; African Americans; Black or African American; children; Cross-Sectional Studies; Ethnicity; Female; gender; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic or Latino; Humans; Male; middle school students; obesity; parents; Pediatric Obesity - economics; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Pediatric Obesity - etiology; physical activity; Poverty; Racial Groups; regression analysis; risk; Schools; Social Class; socioeconomic status; Texas; Texas - epidemiology; White People
• ISSN: 1479-5868; 1479-5868
• DOI: 10.1186/1479-5868-12-S1-S8

Although children of lower socio-economic status (SES) in the United States have generally been found to be at greater risk for obesity, the SES-obesity association varies when stratified by racial/ethnic groups-with no consistent association found for African American and Hispanic children. Research on contextual and setting-related factors may provide further insights into ethnic and SES disparities in obesity. We examined whether obesity levels among central Texas 8th grade students (n=2682) vary by school-level economic disadvantage across individual-level family SES and racial/ethnicity groups. As a secondary aim, we compared the association of school-level economic disadvantage and obesity by language spoken with parents (English or Spanish) among Hispanic students. Multilevel regression models stratified by family SES and ethnicity were run using cross-sectional baseline data from five school districts participating in the Central Texas CATCH Middle School project. For family SES, independent multi-level logistic regression models were run for total sample and by gender for each family SES stratum (poor/near poor/just getting by, living comfortably, and very well off), adjusting for age, ethnicity, and gender. Similarly, multi-level regression models were run by race/ethnic group (African American, Hispanic, and White), adjusting for age, family SES, and gender. Students attending highly economically disadvantaged (ED) schools were between 1.7 (95% CI: 1.1-2.6) and 2.4 (95% CI: 1.2-4.8) times more likely to be obese as students attending low ED schools across family SES groups (p