Gender disparities among the association between cumulative family-level stress & adolescent weight status.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate precursors to gender-related obesity disparities by examining multiple family-level stress indices. METHODS: Analyses was based on adolescents born between 1975 and 1991 to women from the 1979 National Longitudinal Study of Youth data set (N=4762). Three types of family-level stressors were captured from birth to age 15: family disruption and conflict, financial strain, and maternal risky health behaviors, along with a total cumulative risk index. Body mass index was constructed on reference criteria for children outlined by the Centers for Disease Control. Multivariate logistic regressions were conducted for the three types of family stressors and for the total cumulative index. RESULTS: The accumulation of family disruption and conflict and financial stress was positively related to female adolescents being overweight/obese. Childhood exposure to maternal risky health behaviors was positively associated with higher weight status for male adolescents. Total cumulative stress was related to overweight/obesity for females, but not males. CONCLUSION: Different family-level stress indices are associated with the weight status of female and male adolescents. Combining types of family-level stress into one cumulative index appears to mask these differences.