The Associations Between Overweight/Obesity Among Children and Select Social and Economic Predictors

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in the United States has increased dramatically in recent decades, contributing to poor health outcomes and larger societal impacts. Overweight in children is defined as having a BMI at the 85th to 95th percentiles, and obesity is defined as being at or above the 95th percentile. Children who are overweight or obese are significantly more likely to experience comorbidities like diabetes and hypertension, as well as profound psychosocial effects. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has been shown to differ based on certain factors like race, income, and nutrition. The purpose of this study is to explore the association between certain social and economic factors and childhood obesity and overweight. Analyzing this relationship could help to shape more effective and targeted interventions for at-risk children. AIM: This study aims to assess: • The prevalence of overweight/obesity among children based on social and economic status • The odds of overweight/obesity among children based on specific predictors of youth overweight/obesity like race, income, fast-food exposure, and enrollment in free/reduced lunch programs METHODS: This cross-sectional study will evaluate the associations between certain social (race, gender, age) and economic (income, lunch program enrollment, fast food exposure) factors and childhood obesity using the 2017-2020 NHANES datasets. Only those aged 4-19 years old with values for the following variables: age, race/ethnicity, BMI category, lunch price, fast food consumption, and family income were eligible for this study. 2,006 individuals met all the criteria and were included in the analysis. ANALYSIS: Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were conducted to determine the association between youth weight status and several risk factors. Multivariate logistic regression model includes race, family income to poverty ratio, gender, age, lunch price, fast-food consumption, the interaction between race and lunch price, and the interaction between race and fast-food consumption. Results are presented using both tables and figures. I considered p-values less than .05 as statistically significant. RESULTS: The study sample consisted of 2,066 participants (822 overweight/obese children and 1,184 who were neither). The mean age of overweight/obese children was 11 (sd=3.6), the majority (81.2%) of whom were under the age of 15. The mean age of children who were not overweight/obese was 10.44 (sd=3.9), most (80.7%) of whom were under the age of 15. In studying the marginal association by logistic regression models, Mexican children had a significantly increased odds of overweight and obesity (OR=1.8) compared to White. Differences in odds for other races were not significant. There was no significant difference in odds of overweight/obesity between females vs males, or based on age to income. Lowest and middle income were associated with 25% and 39% increased odds of overweight/obesity compared to the highest income group, respectively. However, these associations were not statistically significant. Children in the free lunch price program and in the reduced program had 53% increased odds of overweight/obesity compared to the reference group, full price (OR = 1.53, OR=1.67, respectively) and this difference was significant. However, neither fast food association was statistically significant. The final multivariate model included the following predictors: age, sex, income, race, lunch status, fast-food exposure, race*lunch price, and race*fast-food exposure. Free and reduced lunch status was associated with a significant 68% and 140% increased odds of overweight or obesity for non-Hispanic white after controlling for all other predictors (OR=1.68, CI: 1.168-2.425; OR=2.4, CI: 1.199-4.823). No significant associations between weight and predictors race, age, sex, income, or fast food were found after controlling for other predictors. The two interaction variables were present in the final model (race*lunch price and race*fast-food exposure) reached significance, with both having a p-value of \u3c.0001. CONCLUSION: Overall, the findings of this study showed that low-income children are more likely to be overweight/obese, and certain neighborhood-level risk factors are also associated with overweight/obesity, though the associations were not significant. In the absence of a truly experimental study, which is unethical, it is difficult to make conclusions about causation, and when certain factors are highly associated with each other, even correlation can be muddled. Addressing risk factors disproportionately impacting families with lower socioeconomic status is crucial in the fight against childhood overweight and obesity. Current interventions mostly target individual behaviors, like increasing exercise for overweight children using step counters, or logging food to share with practitioners for weight loss. However, overweight and obesity in childhood are clearly contextual, associated with social and economic environments, and prevention is ideal, even as the intricacies are difficult to tease out. This study reinforces the need for childhood interventions aimed at obesity and overweight to target these contextual factors. Since the predictors of childhood overweight and obesity are tightly intertwined, and often not well understood, this capstone can help to inform further research into this field. This study proposes bigger programs targeting health disparities at the neighborhood level, not at the child or family level

Re-evaluating the link between brain size and behavioural ecology in primates

Comparative studies have identified a wide range of behavioural and ecological correlates of relative brain size, with results differing between taxonomic groups, and even within them. In primates for example, recent studies contradict one another over whether social or ecological factors are critical. A basic assumption of such studies is that with sufficiently large samples and appropriate analysis, robust correlations indicative of selection pressures on cognition will emerge. We carried out a comprehensive re-examination of correlates of primate brain size using two large comparative datasets and phylogenetic comparative methods. We found evidence in both datasets for associations between brain size and ecological variables (home range size, diet and activity period), but little evidence for an effect of social group size, a correlation which has previously formed the empirical basis of the Social Brain Hypothesis. However, reflecting divergent results in the literature, our results exhibited instability across datasets, even when they were matched for species composition and predictor variables. We identify several potential empirical and theoretical difficulties underlying this instability and suggest that these issues raise doubts about inferring cognitive selection pressures from behavioural correlates of brain size

Maternal investment, life histories, and the evolution of brain structure in primates

Life history is a robust correlate of relative brain size: larger-brained mammals and birds have slower life histories and longer lifespans than smaller-brained species. The cognitive buffer hypothesis (CBH) proposes an adaptive explanation for this relationship: large brains may permit greater behavioural flexibility and thereby buffer the animal from unpredictable environmental challenges, allowing for reduced mortality and increased lifespan. By contrast, the developmental costs hypothesis (DCH) suggests that life-history correlates of brain size reflect the extension of maturational processes needed to accommodate the evolution of large brains, predicting correlations with pre-adult life-history phases. Here, we test novel predictions of the hypotheses in primates applied to the neocortex and cerebellum, two major brain structures with distinct developmental trajectories. While neocortical growth is allocated primarily to pre-natal development, the cerebellum exhibits relatively substantial post-natal growth. Consistent with the DCH, neocortical expansion is related primarily to extended gestation while cerebellar expansion to extended post-natal development, particularly the juvenile period. Contrary to the CBH, adult lifespan explains relatively little variance in the whole brain or neocortex volume once pre-adult life-history phases are accounted for. Only the cerebellum shows a relationship with lifespan after accounting for developmental periods. Our results substantiate and elaborate on the role of maternal investment and offspring development in brain evolution, suggest that brain components can evolve partly independently through modifications of distinct developmental phases, and imply that environmental input during post-natal maturation may be particularly crucial for the development of cerebellar function. They also suggest that relatively extended post-natal maturation times provide a developmental mechanism for the marked expansion of the cerebellum in the apes

Water Equity and Security in Detroit's Water and Sewer District

Ensuring access to drinking water and wastewater service is a nationwide policy challenge. Across the United States access is increasingly insecure for many people and places. In this report we comply with scholarship and legal precedent that defines access to include access to residential in-home service, quality service that serves environmental and personal health,and affordable service.Water security is a term in this report used to describe the presence of structural, systemic, and institutional arrangements that ensure everyone has consistent access to drinking water and wastewater services. Water insecurity looks different in the humid east than in the arid west, different in the Midwest from the South, different between urban, suburban, or rural.However different water insecurity problems look at the local level, they are the result of similar institutional, systemic, and structural problems. This is a study of the what persistent water insecurity looks like in the service area of Detroit's drinking and wastewater system (DWSD) and specific places within that system, notably Detroit

School Division Policies Related to Suicide Prevention and Response

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among youth age 10-19, and is an increasing concern in the wake of COVID-19. K-12 schools are crucial spaces for offering mental health support to students, and can implement policies to help prevent suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This MERC research and policy brief focuses on education policy related to suicide prevention and response. It is structured to answer five questions: 1) What are recent trends in youth suicide? 2) What does research show about school division policies that are effective in suicide prevention and response? 3) What policies in Virginia and the MERC region guide the prevention of suicide in school divisions? 4) What are the key takeaways and recommendations for preventing youth suicide through education policy

The Other Fifty Percent: Expressions From Special Education Teachers About Why They Persist in the Profession

We examined reasons special educators are motivated to persist in the profession despite challenges that often lead to attrition for this group. Participants were 21 special education teachers with six or more years of teaching experience across multiple grade levels. Data were collected via the Zoom virtual meeting platform with four focus groups. Semi-structured interview techniques were used, and data were analyzed using deductive coding procedures. Participants shared external, employment, and personal factors associated with Billingsley’s (1993) career decision framework that influenced their persistence, such as supports from school administrators with expertise in special education law, passion for students and their achievement, and stressors related to the workforce that motivated them to persist in the profession. Implications for educational practice and future research are discussed

Addressing School Bullying Since the Onset of COVID-19: A MERC Research and Policy Brief

Among the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic is a shift in the nature and intensity of school bullying, perhaps symptomatic of the rapid changes and stressors that PK-12 students have endured since 2020. In this MERC research and policy brief, we explore how school bullying has changed since the onset of COVID-19 as well as research-based strategies for how educators and division leaders can best respond to it. The brief answers the following questions: 1) What is the nature of school bullying since the onset of COVID-19? 2) Which students have been particularly impacted by bullying since the pandemic? 3) What are recommended strategies for preventing school bullying since the onset of COVID-19? 4) What are current policies in Virginia and MERC school divisions related to addressing bullying? 5) What are the key takeaways and enduring questions about addressing school bullying since the onset of COVID-19