TY - JOUR
T1 - Interpersonal Discrimination, Neighborhood Inequities, and Children's Body Mass Index
T2 - A Descriptive, Cross-Sectional Analysis
AU - Kunin-Batson, Alicia
AU - Carr, Christopher
AU - Tate, Allan
AU - Trofholz, Amanda
AU - Troy, Michael F.
AU - Hardeman, Rachel
AU - Berge, Jerica M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. All rights reserved.
PY - 2023/10/1
Y1 - 2023/10/1
N2 - Psychosocial stressors have been implicated in childhood obesity, but the role of racism-related stressors is less clear. This study explored associations between neighborhood inequities, discrimination/harassment, and child body mass index (BMI). Parents of children aged 5-9 years from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds (n = 1307), completed surveys of their child's exposure to discrimination/harassment. Census tract data derived from addresses were used to construct an index of concentration at the extremes, a measure of neighborhood social polarization. Child's height and weight were obtained from medical records. Multiple regression and hierarchical models examined child's BMI and racism at the individual and census tract levels. Children residing in the most Black-homogenous census tracts had 8.2 percentage units higher BMI percentile (95% confidence interval, 1.5-14.9) compared with white-homogenous tracts (P =.03). Household income and home values were lower, poverty rates higher, and single parent households more common among Black-homogeneous census tracts. Almost 30% of children experienced discrimination/harassment in the past year, which was associated with a 5.28-unit higher BMI percentile (95% confidence interval, 1.72-8.84; P =.004). Discrimination and racial/economic segregation were correlated with higher child BMI. Longitudinal studies are needed to understand whether these factors may be related to weight gain trajectories and future health.
AB - Psychosocial stressors have been implicated in childhood obesity, but the role of racism-related stressors is less clear. This study explored associations between neighborhood inequities, discrimination/harassment, and child body mass index (BMI). Parents of children aged 5-9 years from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds (n = 1307), completed surveys of their child's exposure to discrimination/harassment. Census tract data derived from addresses were used to construct an index of concentration at the extremes, a measure of neighborhood social polarization. Child's height and weight were obtained from medical records. Multiple regression and hierarchical models examined child's BMI and racism at the individual and census tract levels. Children residing in the most Black-homogenous census tracts had 8.2 percentage units higher BMI percentile (95% confidence interval, 1.5-14.9) compared with white-homogenous tracts (P =.03). Household income and home values were lower, poverty rates higher, and single parent households more common among Black-homogeneous census tracts. Almost 30% of children experienced discrimination/harassment in the past year, which was associated with a 5.28-unit higher BMI percentile (95% confidence interval, 1.72-8.84; P =.004). Discrimination and racial/economic segregation were correlated with higher child BMI. Longitudinal studies are needed to understand whether these factors may be related to weight gain trajectories and future health.
KW - childhood
KW - discrimination
KW - obesity
KW - racism
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U2 - 10.1097/FCH.0000000000000372
DO - 10.1097/FCH.0000000000000372
M3 - Article
C2 - 37696014
AN - SCOPUS:85170628151
SN - 0160-6379
VL - 46
SP - S30-S40
JO - Family and Community Health
JF - Family and Community Health
IS - 1
ER -