Abstract
ObjectiveThe present study tested the association between both mothers’ and offspring’s intelligence and offspring’s body mass index (BMI) in youth.MethodParticipants were members of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY-79) Children and Young Adults cohort (n = 11,512) and their biological mothers who were members of the NLSY-79 (n = 4932). Offspring’s IQ was measured with the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT). Mothers’ IQ was measured with the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). A series of regression analyses tested the association between IQ and offspring’s BMI by age group, while adjusting for pre-pregnancy BMI and family SES. The analyses were stratified by sex and ethnicity (non-Black and non-Hispanic, Black, and Hispanic).ResultsThe following associations were observed in the fully adjusted analyses. For the non-Blacks and non-Hispanics, a SD increment in mothers’ IQ was negatively associated with daughters’ BMI across all age-groups, ranging from β = −0.12 (95% CI −0.22 to −0.02, p = 0.021) in late childhood, to β = −0.17 (95% C.I. −0.27 to −0.07, p = 0001), in early adolescence and a SD increment in boys’ IQ was positively associated with their BMI in early adolescence β = 0.09 (95% CI 0.01–0.18, p = 0.031). For Blacks, there was a non-linear relationship between mothers’ IQ and daughters’ BMI across childhood and between girls’ IQ and BMI across adolescence. There was a positive association between mothers’ IQ and sons’ BMI in early adolescence (β = 0.17, 95% CI 0.02–0.32, p = 0.030). For Hispanic boys, there was a positive IQ-BMI association in late childhood (β = 0.19, 95% CI 0.05–0.33, p = 0.008) and early adolescence (β = 0.17, 95% CI 0.04–0.31, p = 0.014).ConclusionMothers’ IQ and offspring’s IQ were associated with offspring’s BMI. The relationships varied in direction and strength across ethnicity, age group and sex. Obesity interventions may benefit from acknowledging the heterogeneous influence that intelligence has on childhood BMI.
Highlights
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.Rates of childhood obesity have increased over recent decades
Higher maternal IQ was associated with lower body mass index (BMI) in all age groups in the non-Black and non-Hispanic ethnic group
The association between girls’ IQ and BMI was curvilinear in the Black ethnic group, across adolescence, and in the non-Black and non-Hispanic ethnic group, in middle childhood
Summary
Rates of childhood obesity have increased over recent decades. Being obese in childhood is associated with childhood comorbidities [3,4,5] and with an increased risk of being overweight in adulthood [6]. It is a matter of public health importance to identify the factors that impact the risk of having a high body mass index (BMI) in early life. The risk factor of interest in the present study is both mothers’ and offspring’s intelligence
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