Assessing social differences in overweight among 15- to 16-year-old ethnic Norwegians from Oslo by register data and adolescent self-reported measures of socio-economic status.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
To determine to what extent self-reported and objective data on socio-economic status (SES) are associated with overweight/obesity among 15 to 16-year-old ethnic Norwegians.

DESIGN:
A cross-sectional questionnaire study on health and health-related behaviors.

SUBJECTS:
All school children aged 15-16 years old in 2000 and 2001 in Oslo, Norway. Response rate 88% (n=7343). This article is based on the data from the 5498 ethnic Norwegians.

MEASUREMENTS:
Self-reported height and weight were used to measure overweight (including obesity) as defined by the International Obesity Task Force cutoffs at the nearest half-year intervals. SES was determined by register data from Statistics Norway on residential area, parental education and income and by adolescent self-reported measures on parental occupation and adolescents' educational plans.

RESULTS:
The prevalence of overweight/obesity was low, but higher among boys (11%) than among girls (6%). Parental education (four levels) showed the clearest inverse gradients with overweight/obesity (boys:
18, 13, 10 and 7%; girls:
11, 6, 6 and 4%). Parental education remained significantly associated with overweight/obesity when adding occupation and income to the model for the boys, whereas there were no significant associations in the final model for the girls. Overweight/obesity was associated with a lower odds ratio of planning for higher education (college/university) among boys only.

CONCLUSION:
For the boys, parental education was most strongly associated with overweight/obesity, and the association between overweight/obesity and educational plans appears to imply downward social mobility. The relationships between the various SES measures and overweight/obesity appeared more interrelated for the girls.

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Author information

Author/s: Lien, N (N); Kumar, B N (BN); Holmboe-Ottesen, G (G); Klepp, K-I (KI); Wandel, M (M);

Affiliation: Department of Nutrition, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway. nanna.lien(-atsign-)medisin.uio.no

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: International journal of obesity (2005) (Int J Obes (Lond)), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Jan; vol 31 (issue 1) : pp 30-8

Dates: Created 2006/12/18; Completed 2007/03/15;

PMID: 16788570, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Male
Norway - epidemiology
Obesity - epidemiology
Occupations
Parents
Prevalence
Questionnaires
Sex Distribution
Socioeconomic Factors

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