Is Childhood Socioeconomic Status Independently Associated with Adult BMI after Accounting for Adult and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status?

Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is inversely associated with adult weight in high income countries. Whether the influence of childhood SES on adult weight is best described using a critical period model or an accumulation of risk model is not yet settled. This research tests whether childhood S...

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Main Author: Gregory Pavela
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5241009?pdf=render
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author Gregory Pavela
author_facet Gregory Pavela
author_sort Gregory Pavela
collection DOAJ
description Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is inversely associated with adult weight in high income countries. Whether the influence of childhood SES on adult weight is best described using a critical period model or an accumulation of risk model is not yet settled. This research tests whether childhood SES is associated with adult BMI and likelihood of obesity independent of adult socioeconomic status and neighborhood characteristics. Data on individual childhood and adult characteristics come from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 13,545). Data on neighborhood characteristics come from the 2000 Decennial Census and American Community Survey (2005-2009). In the fully adjusted models, perceived financial hardship before the age of sixteen and having a father who was unemployed are associated with higher BMI among males and, among females, paternal education remains associated with adult BMI. However, childhood SES is not associated with likelihood of obesity after fully adjusting for adult SES and neighborhood characteristics, suggesting that the direct effects of early childhood SES on BMI are small relative to the other factors associated with obesity in adulthood.
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spelling doaj.art-65bdf4a7e24246168f93fbea367b8c7c2022-12-22T01:42:22ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01121e016848110.1371/journal.pone.0168481Is Childhood Socioeconomic Status Independently Associated with Adult BMI after Accounting for Adult and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status?Gregory PavelaChildhood socioeconomic status (SES) is inversely associated with adult weight in high income countries. Whether the influence of childhood SES on adult weight is best described using a critical period model or an accumulation of risk model is not yet settled. This research tests whether childhood SES is associated with adult BMI and likelihood of obesity independent of adult socioeconomic status and neighborhood characteristics. Data on individual childhood and adult characteristics come from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 13,545). Data on neighborhood characteristics come from the 2000 Decennial Census and American Community Survey (2005-2009). In the fully adjusted models, perceived financial hardship before the age of sixteen and having a father who was unemployed are associated with higher BMI among males and, among females, paternal education remains associated with adult BMI. However, childhood SES is not associated with likelihood of obesity after fully adjusting for adult SES and neighborhood characteristics, suggesting that the direct effects of early childhood SES on BMI are small relative to the other factors associated with obesity in adulthood.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5241009?pdf=render
spellingShingle Gregory Pavela
Is Childhood Socioeconomic Status Independently Associated with Adult BMI after Accounting for Adult and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status?
PLoS ONE
title Is Childhood Socioeconomic Status Independently Associated with Adult BMI after Accounting for Adult and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status?
title_full Is Childhood Socioeconomic Status Independently Associated with Adult BMI after Accounting for Adult and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status?
title_fullStr Is Childhood Socioeconomic Status Independently Associated with Adult BMI after Accounting for Adult and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status?
title_full_unstemmed Is Childhood Socioeconomic Status Independently Associated with Adult BMI after Accounting for Adult and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status?
title_short Is Childhood Socioeconomic Status Independently Associated with Adult BMI after Accounting for Adult and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status?
title_sort is childhood socioeconomic status independently associated with adult bmi after accounting for adult and neighborhood socioeconomic status
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5241009?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT gregorypavela ischildhoodsocioeconomicstatusindependentlyassociatedwithadultbmiafteraccountingforadultandneighborhoodsocioeconomicstatus