Obesity, race/ethnicity and life course socioeconomic status across the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Background: Differences in the association of socioeconomic status (SES) with obesity may underlie the racial/ethnic disparities in obesity that increase dramatically across the transition to adulthood in the United States. The aim of this study was to examine racial/ethnic differences in the influence of life course SES on longitudinal obesity patterns from adolescence to adulthood.

Methods: Latent class analysis was used on a nationally representative, diverse sample of 12 940 adolescents followed into young adulthood (mean age = 21.

Association of neighborhood socioeconomic status with physical fitness in healthy young adults: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study.

Background: Impaired physical fitness, a contributor to obesity and cardiovascular disease, has been associated with both an individual's socioeconomic status (SES) and with residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The aim of the study was to examine the extent to which neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with impaired fitness, independent of clinical characteristics and individual-level SES.

Methods: Two thousand five hundred five participants 25 to 42 years old examined in the CARDIA study from 1992 to 1993 underwent symptom-limited exercise stress testing.

Validation of a GIS facilities database: quantification and implications of error.

Purpose: To validate a commercial database of community-level physical activity facilities that can be used in future research examining associations between access to physical activity facilities and individual-level physical activity and obesity.

Methods: Physical activity facility characteristics and locations obtained from a commercial database were compared to a field census conducted in 80 census block groups within two U.S.

Screen time and physical activity during adolescence: longitudinal effects on obesity in young adulthood.

Background: The joint impact of sedentary behavior and physical activity on obesity has not been assessed in a large cohort followed from adolescence to adulthood.

Methods: Nationally representative longitudinal data from Waves II (1995; mean age: 15.9) and III (2001; mean age: 21.

Race and gender differences in the association of dieting and gains in BMI among young adults.

Objective: To assess the relationship between dieting and subsequent weight change and whether the association varies by gender or race/ethnicity.

Research Methods And Procedures: Male (n = 4100) and female (n = 4302) participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health who provided information on weight and height at baseline and two follow-up assessments and were not missing information on weight control strategies or race were studied. Generalized estimating equations were used to assess whether dieting to lose or maintain weight at Wave I or II predicted BMI (kg/m(2)) change between adolescence and young adulthood (Wave II to III).

Differential associations of fast food and restaurant food consumption with 3-y change in body mass index: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study.

Background: Away-from-home food consumption has rapidly increased, though little is known about the independent associations of restaurant food and fast food intake with body mass index (BMI) and BMI change.

Objective: The aim was to compare the associations of restaurant food and fast food consumption with current and 3-y changes in BMI.

Design: Multivariate linear regression models, with control for demographic and lifestyle factors, were used to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of away-from-home eating with BMI by using data from subjects of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study (n = 3394) obtained at exam years 7 (1992-1993) and 10 (1995-1996).

China's transition: the effect of rapid urbanization on adult occupational physical activity.

China has recently undergone rapid social and economic change. Increases in urbanization have led to equally rapid shifts toward more sedentary occupations through the acquisition of new technology and transitions away from a mostly agricultural economy. Our purpose was to utilize a detailed measure of urbanicity comprising 10 dimensions of urban services and infrastructure to examine its effects on the occupational physical activity patterns of Chinese adults.

Built and social environments associations with adolescent overweight and activity.

Background: Little is known about the patterning of neighborhood characteristics, beyond the basic urban, rural, suburban trichotomy, and its impact on physical activity (PA) and overweight.

Methods: Nationally representative data (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, 1994-1995, n = 20,745) were collected. Weight, height, PA, and sedentary behavior were self-reported.

Self-reported health, perceived racial discrimination, and skin color in African Americans in the CARDIA study.

This study investigates the association between self-reported physical and mental health and both perceived racial discrimination and skin color in African American men and women. We used data from the longitudinal coronary artery risk development in young adults study (CARDIA) in African American men and women (n=1722) in the USA. We assessed self-reported mental and physical health status and depressive symptoms at the Year 15 (2000-2001) follow-up examination using the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-12) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale.

Body mass index gain, fast food, and physical activity: effects of shared environments over time.

Objective: The magnitude of environmental vs. genetic effects on BMI, diet, and physical activity (PA) is widely debated. We followed a sibling cohort (where individuals shared households in childhood and adolescence) to young adulthood (when some continued sharing households and others lived apart) to examine the role of discordant environments in adult twins' divergent trends in BMI and health behaviors and to quantify the variation in BMI and behavior among all siblings that is attributable to environmental and additive genetic effects.

Physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns are associated with selected adolescent health risk behaviors.

Objective: Little is known about how physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior, and various adolescent health risk behaviors are associated. The objective of this study was to examine relationships between PA and sedentary behavior patterns and an array of risk behaviors, including leading causes of adolescent morbidity/mortality.

Methods: Nationally representative self-reported data were collected (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; wave I: 1994-1995; II: 1996; N = 11957).

Inequality in the built environment underlies key health disparities in physical activity and obesity.

Context: Environmental factors are suggested to play a major role in physical activity (PA) and other obesity-related behaviors, yet there is no national research on the relationship between disparity in access to recreational facilities and additional impact on PA and overweight patterns in US adolescents.

Objective: In a nationally representative cohort, we sought to assess the geographic and social distribution of PA facilities and how disparity in access might underlie population-level PA and overweight patterns.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Residential locations of US adolescents in wave I (1994-1995) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 20745) were geocoded, and a 8.

Longitudinal trends in race/ethnic disparities in leading health indicators from adolescence to young adulthood.

Objective: To use ethnically diverse, national data to examine longitudinal trends in race/ethnic disparities in 20 leading health indicators from Healthy People 2010 across multiple domains from adolescence to young adulthood. Much of what is known about health disparities is based on cross-sectional measures collected at a single time point.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Nationally representative data for more than 14 000 adolescents enrolled in wave I (1994-1995) or wave II (1996) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and followed up into adulthood (wave III; 2001-2002).

Environmental influences on food choice, physical activity and energy balance.

In this paper, the environment is defined as the macro- and community-level factors, including physical, legal and policy factors, that influence household and individual decisions. Thus, environment is conceived as the external context in which household and individual decisions are made. This paper reviews the literature on the ways the environment affects diet, physical activity, and obesity.

The association between diet and height in the postinfancy period changes with age and socioeconomic status in Filipino youths.

Whether the determinants of linear growth can have independent effects beyond the critical infancy period has been questioned. This research uses uniquely suited data from >2000 youths from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Study in the Philippines to examine the association between diet and height in the postinfancy period. Anthropometric, diet, and other data were collected bimonthly from 0 to 2 y, and at the mean ages of 8, 11.

Associations among active transportation, physical activity, and weight status in young adults.

Objective: To describe prevalence of active, public, and car transit by overweight status and amount of leisure-time physical activity in a nationally representative cohort of ethnically diverse young adults.

Research Methods And Procedures: Questionnaire data on patterns of transportation were collected from U.S.

Growth patterns of Filipino children indicate potential compensatory growth.

Background: The extent to which compensatory growth can occur after 2 years of age among children who were stunted in infancy has been questioned due, in part, to limitations in the data used to explore the issue.

Aim: This study uses longitudinal data with multiple measurements over the entirety of the growth period to explore the potential for post-infancy compensatory growth in a developing country context.

Subjects And Methods: Data comes from >2000 Filipino youths from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey.

Adolescent physical activity and sedentary behavior: patterning and long-term maintenance.

Background: Little is known about physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior patterning or its impact on long-term PA sustainability, particularly during the critical transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Methods: Nationally representative self-reported data were collected (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: Wave I, 1994-1995; Wave II, 1996; Wave III, 2001-2002). Cluster analyses identified homogeneous groups of adolescents with similar PA and sedentary behaviors.

"Does skinny mean healthy?" Perceived ideal, current, and healthy body sizes among African-American girls and their female caregivers.

Objectives: To qualitatively and quantitatively examine body image ideals and perceived weight-related health among African-American girls and their female caregivers to inform intervention development for Girls Rule!, an obesity prevention pilot program.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Formative study using qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and validated quantitative body image silhouette assessment among girls (N=47) and caregivers (N=44). The participants were a convenience sample of African-American church members from North Carolina.

Are adolescents who were breast-fed less likely to be overweight? Analyses of sibling pairs to reduce confounding.

Background: Cohort analyses suggesting that breast-feeding protects against being overweight have been criticized for inadequately controlling for confounding associated with the self-selection of feeding practices.

Methods: Using nationally representative U.S.

The nutrition transition: worldwide obesity dynamics and their determinants.

Objective: This paper explores the major changes in diet and physical activity patterns around the world and focuses on shifts in obesity.

Design: Review of results focusing on large-scale surveys and nationally representative studies of diet, activity, and obesity among adults and children.

Subjects: Youth and adults from a range of countries around the world.

Longitudinal physical activity and sedentary behavior trends: adolescence to adulthood.

Background: There is little national research on longitudinal patterns of physical activity and sedentary behavior in ethnically diverse teens as they transition to adulthood.

Methods: Longitudinal questionnaire data from U.S.

Barriers to physical activity: qualitative data on caregiver-daughter perceptions and practices.

Background: There is little research on household and physical environment barriers to physical activity, particularly in minority populations at high risk for obesity and inactivity. Few studies include data on caregiver and daughter dyads. Formative data were used to develop intervention strategies and pathways for the Girls Rule! obesity prevention intervention, in under-studied high-risk pre-adolescents.

Five-year obesity incidence in the transition period between adolescence and adulthood: the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Background: No nationally representative longitudinal data have been analyzed to evaluate the incidence of obesity in the transition between adolescence and adulthood.

Objective: The objective was to examine dynamic patterns of change in obesity among white, black, Hispanic, and Asian US teens as they transitioned to young adulthood.

Design: We used nationally representative, longitudinally measured height and weight data collected from US adolescents enrolled in wave II (1996; ages 13-20 y) and wave III (2001; 19-26 y) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 9795).