RACE, SOCIOECONOMIC-STATUS, AND OBESITY IN 9-YEAR-OLD TO 10-YEAR-OLD GIRLS - THE NHLBI GROWTH AND HEALTH STUDY

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether measures of socioeconomic status (SES) are inversely associated with obesity in 9 - to 10-year-old black and white girls and their parents. Subjects wer e participants in the Growth and Health Study (NGHS) of the National H eart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Extensive SES, anthropometric, and di etary data were collected at baseline on 2379 NGHS participants. The p revalence of obesity was examined in the NGHS girls and parents in rel ation to SES and selected environmental factors. Less obesity was obse rved at higher levels of household income and parental education in wh ite girls but not in black girls. Among the mothers of the NGHS partic ipants who were seen, lower prevalence of obesity was observed with hi gher levels of income and education for white mothers, but no consiste nt patterns were seen in black mothers. Univariate logistic models ind icated that the Prevalence of obesity was significantly and inversely associated with parental income and education and number of parents in the household in white girls whereas caloric intake and TV viewing we re significantly and positively associated with obesity. Among black g irls, only TV viewing was significantly and positively associated with the prevalence of obesity. Multivariate logistic regression models re vealed that lower parental educational attainment, one-parent househol d, and increased caloric intake were significantly associated with the prevalence of obesity in white girls; for black girls, only increased hours of TV viewing were significant in these models. It is concluded that socioeconomic status, as measured by education and income, was r elated to the prevalence of obesity in girls, with racial variation in these associations. A lower prevalence of obesity was seen at higher levels of socioeconomic status in white girls, whereas no clear relati onship was detected in black girls. These findings raise new questions regarding the correlates of obesity in black girls. Ann Epidemiol 199 6; 266-275.