Spiritual influences on ability to engage in self-care activities among older African Americans.

The influence of spiritual factors on the ability of African-American elders to carry out instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) independent of age, gender, education, and self-rated health is explored using the religion-health explanatory model in a cross-sectional sample of 96 African-American community dwelling adults 62 to 93 years of age. The Reed spiritual perspective (SPS) and self-transcendence (STS) scales are used to study spiritual factors (Reed, 1991). The typical respondent was 75 years of age, female, widowed with 10.

Developmental, gender, and ethnic group differences in moods and ambulatory blood pressure in adolescents.

Background: Adolescence is characterized by profound changes in physical, psychological, and social functioning thought to be accompanied by intense and varying moods.

Purpose: Within a psychophysiological framework, this study examined the prevalence of 12 self-reported mood states of adolescents; investigated associations between specific mood states and ambulatory blood pressure readings; and explored effects of interactions among moods, gender, ethnic group, and maturation on ambulatory blood pressures.

Methods: The sample included 371 African American, European American, and Hispanic American adolescents 11 to 16 years old.

Percentiles of body composition from bioelectrical impedance and body measurements in U.S. adolescents 8-17 years old: Project HeartBeat!

Reference percentiles (5th, 10th, 50th, 85th, 90th, and 95th) of black and nonblack children ages 8-17 years from Project HeartBeat! (n = 678) are presented for body mass index (BMI), percent body fat (PBF), fat-free mass (FFM), and fat mass (FM) derived from bioelectrical impedance. Project HeartBeat! is a mixed longitudinal study in which three cohorts of children (seen initially at age 8, 11, or 14 years) were followed for 4 years and measured thrice-yearly from 1991 through 1995. Weight, height, and BMI of Project HeartBeat! children are similar in central tendency and variability to those of nationally representative samples for nonblack children but not black children, for whom there is an excess of children at or above the 95th percentile for weight and BMI.

Migration history, health behaviors, and cardiovascular disease risk factors in overweight Mexican-American women.

Purpose: This research examined whether the migration history of overweight Mexican-American women had an independent effect on cardiovascular risk factors, or whether it was mediated by health behavior changes.

Data And Methods: Cross-sectional data from 390 overweight, non-diabetic Mexican-American women (aged 18 to 65 years), all recruited from Starr County, Texas, were used for this analysis. Migration history was inferred from birthplaces of subjects and relatives, and length of residence in the United States.

Anger in adolescents: sex, ethnicity, age differences, and psychometric properties.

Background: The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), a self-report questionnaire, is designed to measure the experience and expression of anger. Reliability and validity of the STAXI have been well established among African and European Americans aged 13 years and older. However, little is known of the use of this instrument among adolescents younger than 13 years and Hispanic American adolescents.

Healthy Growth: project description and baseline findings.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to describe the physical activity, blood pressure, and body fat patterns of sixth-grade, African-American girls (N = 82), who participated in the Healthy Growth Study. The purpose of the primary study questions was to determine which sets of variables best predict blood pressure, physical activity, and body fat.

Design And Methods: This paper is a cross sectional analysis of the first assessment of a 5-year longitudinal project.

Is obesity associated with poor sleep quality in adolescents?

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. and more developed countries, particularly so among adolescents.

Longitudinal analysis of changes in indices of obesity from age 8 years to age 18 years. Project HeartBeat!

To compare growth patterns of obesity indices derived from body composition and anthropometric measures, the authors analyzed data from Project HeartBeat!, a longitudinal study of cardiovascular disease risk factors in childhood and adolescence. A total of 678 children initially aged 8, 11, and 14 years in The Woodlands and Conroe, Texas, were enrolled and followed with 4-monthly examinations between October 1991 and August 1995. Trajectories of change from age 8 years to age 18 years were estimated for body mass index, percent body fat, abdominal circumference, the sum of two skinfolds, and the sum of six skinfolds.

Body measurement variability, fatness, and fat-free mass in children 8, 11, and 14 years of age: Project HeartBeat!

Project HeartBeat! is a four year mixed-longitudinal study of the development of cardiovascular risk factors in White and African American children who at baseline comprised three age cohorts 8, 11, and 14 years. This paper focuses on the anthropometric variables which were chosen to reflect body fat and fat-free mass. Selected anthropometric dimensions are compared with those of samples from the combined National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys I and II to explore the similarities of the samples in terms of central tendencies and variances.

Role of infant feeding practice, sex, and age on fatness and subcutaneous fat distribution in infancy: Longitudinal analysis of multiple skinfold measurements.

The aim of this study was to determine whether subcutaneous fatness and fat distribution differ on the basis of feeding practice and sex during the first 6 months of life. Longitudinal principal components analysis (PCA) was done on skinfolds measured at five sites in 45 breast-fed and 41 formula-fed infants. The first component represented fatness, the second component change in fatness, and the third component upper body/lower body fat distribution.

Precision of measuring body fat distribution in adolescent African American girls from the 'healthy growth study'.

Precision estimates are given for anthropometric assessment of body fat distribution in participants (n = 86) of the Healthy Growth Study (total n = 154). This five year longitudinal study explored the psychosocial and biologic influences on activity levels in urban adolescent African American girls. The basic anthropometric data include height, weight, four body and limb circumferences, and five skinfold measurements.

Conicity: A new index of body fat distribution-what does it tell us?

"Conicity" (C) is an index of body fat distribution which expresses an individuals waist circumference relative to the circumference of a cylinder generated with that persons weight and height assuming a constant for body density (Valdez [1991] J. Clin. Epidemiol.

Precision of the one- versus two-handed method of skinfold measurement in the obese.

Skinfolds at five anatomic sites were measured on 47 subjects in a study of gallbladder disease in Starr County, Texas, by two methods, one and two handed. A comparison was made of the two methods as to bias and precision. There were statistically significant but biologically unimportant differences (on the order of 1-2 mm) at four of the five sites.

Obesity and upper body fat distribution in Mexican American children from families with a diabetic proband.

Unlabelled: Upper and centralized body fat distribution is associated with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Few studies have focused on anthropometric characteristics of preadults from families in which there is a diabetic (NIDDM) proband. This study explores the prevalence of upper and centralized body fatness in Mexican American children from the Diabetes Alert study (1981-1983) in Starr County, Texas.

Body fat distribution and job stress in Mexican-American men of the hispanic health and nutrition examination survey.

A positive relationship between psychosocial stress and central body fat distribution has been hypothesized. To test this hypothesis, two indices derived from principal components analysis of four skinfold measurements were studied in relation to imputed job stress characteristics (decision latitude, skill discretion, decision authority, and psychological demands) in Mexican-American men of the U.S.

Body fat distribution: Associations with socioeconomic status in the Hispanic health and nutrition examination survey.

Three indices derived from principal components analysis of four skinfold measurements were studied in relation to socioeconomic status (SES; income and education) in men and women of the U.S. Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES).

Body circumferences as measures of body fat distribution in 10-14-year-old schoolchildren.

In this paper the hypothesis is tested that circumferences are as useful as skinfolds in children aged 10-14 years to detect variation in regional fat distribution. This would be confirmed by the appearance of a significant canonical correlation between a vector of appropriately selected circumferences and an analogous vector of skinfolds, producing a weighted pattern suggestive of centralized obesity (that is a series of mathematical weights of different signs for central versus peripheral regions of the body). The hypothesis is confirmed (P < 0.