Table 1.
Characteristics of Participants.
| Non-obese
(n = 153) |
Obese
(n = 73) |
Probability of difference | p< | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M ± SD | M ± SD | F | ||
|
| ||||
| Age (y), | 14.2 ± 2.5 | 14.9 ± 2.4 | F = 4.1 | 0.05 |
|
| ||||
| BMI z-score, | 0.48 ± .80 | 2.2 ± .40 | F = 30.9 | 0.001 |
|
| ||||
| χ2 | ||||
|
| ||||
| Race (% of group) | ||||
| African American | 24.8 | 41.1 | 4.1 | nsa |
| Asian | 5.9 | 1.4 | ||
| Caucasian | 63.4 | 53.4 | ||
| Hispanic | 3.9 | 1.4 | ||
| Other | 2.0 | 2.7 | ||
|
| ||||
| Sex (%) | ||||
| Female | 52.0 | 56.2 | 0.21 | nsa |
|
| ||||
| SESb (median) | 2.0 | 2.0 | 8.5 | nsa |
ns = non-significant (p > 0.05);
SES = Socioeconomic status (Hollingshead, 1975); lower scores are indicative of higher SES.
Scores generated from the Hollingshead Index are based upon two scales: Occupation (ranging from “1=higher executive, proprietors of large businesses and major professionals” to “7=farm laborers/menial service workers”) and Education (ranging from 1=graduate professional training to 7=less than 7 yrs education). The occupation items are multiplied by 7 and the education scale items are multiplied by 4. The scores are then averaged for both parents and a final scaling is based upon the 1 through 5 variables. Therefore, a child with a score of 2 might have parents who both completed undergraduate college degrees and worked as “administrators, lesser professionals, or proprietors of medium-sized businesses”; One child had a BMI below the 5th percentile. Findings did not differ when this participant was removed from the sample. Therefore, this child's data is included in the analyses presented.