Abstract
BackgroundChildhood and adolescent overweight is a recognized public health concern as the prevalence is already high and continues to increase. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and overweight status by gender among Korean children and adolescents.MethodsThe data used in this study were taken from the 2009 Korean Survey on the Obesity of Youth and Children. Underweight individuals (n = 1,010) and children and adolescents whose age, height, or weight information was missing (n = 591) were excluded from the data set, resulting in a total of 8,555 subjects who were included in this analysis. Subjective SES, parental education level, parental occupational status, and family structure were used to measure parental SES. Chi-squared tests were used for univariable analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted for multivariable analysis.ResultsAfter adjusting for subject’s characteristics including gender, age, parental interest in weight management of children, parental body shape, economic status variables that significantly influenced childhood overweight were identified. Low economic status increased the probability of childhood overweight (odds ratio, 1.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-1.5).ConclusionsThere is an inverse association between parental SES variables and the overweight status of children and adolescents. Additionally, parental body shape is an important factor that influences childhood and adolescent overweight.
Highlights
Childhood and adolescent overweight is a recognized public health concern as the prevalence is already high and continues to increase
The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and overweight in Korean children and adolescents through analysis of nationally representative data
Data source and study samples The data utilized in this study were taken from the 2009 Korean Survey on the Obesity of Youth and Children conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute (NYPI)
Summary
Childhood and adolescent overweight is a recognized public health concern as the prevalence is already high and continues to increase. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and overweight status by gender among Korean children and adolescents. Overweight in children and adolescents is considered to be a significant global public health concern as the prevalence is already high and continues to increase. Important parental characteristics that might impact childhood and adolescent overweight have been recognized as influential risk factors; namely, a combination of genetic, epigenetic, social, and environmental factors has been identified. Having parents, especially mothers, who were overweight, increased the risk of children being overweight [6,7]. Some studies found different association in parental overweight between boys and girls, whereas others did not [9]
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