Table 3 Characteristics of participants by neighbourhood socioeconomic status*.
| Characteristics | Neighbourhood SES tertile† | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| High (n = 3993) | Middle (n = 2372) | Low (n = 1230) | |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 25.4 (4.6; 14.6–67.9) | 25.7 (4.9; 13.3–55.6) | 27.3 (5.4; 14.3–54.4) |
| Age (years) | 45.6 (14.0; 25–74) | 43.9 (14.2; 25–74) | 45.0 (14.3; 25–74) |
| Gender | |||
| Women | 2142 (53.6%) | 1298 (54.7%) | 718 (58.4%) |
| Men | 1151 (46.4%) | 1074 (45.3%) | 512 (41.6%) |
| Race/ethnicity | |||
| Non‐Hispanic white | 3819 (95.6%) | 2119 (89.3%) | 710 (65.8%) |
| Hispanic | 174 (4.4%) | 253 (10.7%) | 420 (34.2%) |
| Household income ($) | |||
| <10 000 | 306 (8.2%) | 296 (13.4%) | 263 (24.1%) |
| 10 000–19 999 | 674 (18.1%) | 530 (24.1%) | 347 (31.9%) |
| 20 000–29 999 | 896 (24.0%) | 561 (25.5%) | 233 (21.4%) |
| 30 000–39 999 | 710 (19.0%) | 384 (17.4%) | 132 (12.1%) |
| 40 000–49 999 | 482 (12.9%) | 244 (11.1%) | 61 (5.6%) |
| >50 000 | 661 (17.7%) | 187 (8.50%) | 53 (4.9%) |
| Education (years) | 14.4 (2.9; 0–25) | 13.3 (3.0; 0–26) | 10.3 (4.1; 0–23) |
| Individual SES‡ | 2.8 (0.8; 1–4) | 2.5 (0.8; 1–4) | 1.8 (0.8; 1–4) |
| Marital status | |||
| Currently married | 2748 (68.8%) | 1593 (67.2%) | 861 (70.1%) |
| Previously married | 778(19.5%) | 506 (21.3%) | 287 (23.4%) |
| Never married | 466 (11.7%) | 273 (11.5%) | 80 (6.5%) |
| Language spoken at home | |||
| English only or mostly English | 961 (94.8%) | 540 (85.9%) | 217 (43.9%) |
| English and Spanish equally | 27 (2.7%) | 39 (6.2%) | 66 (13.4%) |
| Mostly Spanish or Spanish only | 26 (2.6%) | 50 (8.0%) | 211 (42.7%) |
| Non‐smokers | 1792 (45.3%) | 1032 (43.8%) | 509 (41.5%) |
| Physical activity§ | 4.53 (1.55; 1–7) | 4.46 (1.61; 1–7) | 4.37 (1.68; 1–7) |
| Nutrition knowledge (above median)¶ | 2596 (65.0%) | 1386 (58.4%) | 561 (45.6%) |
BMI, body mass index; SES, socioeconomic status.
*Values for continuous variables are expressed as Mean (SD; range); values for categorical variables are expressed as count (%). Non‐significance for each variable varies because of missing values.
†Neighbourhood SES index was derived from census information on median family income, median housing value, percentage of blue collar workers, percentage of unemployed and percentage having less than high‐school education. Participants were categorised into survey‐specific tertiles by their neighbourhood SES.
‡Individual SES was derived from annual household income and educational attainment.
§Participants were asked to rate their activity level relative to others of their age on a scale of 1–7.
¶A dichotomous variable derived from 17 questions was developed to assess nutrition knowledge. The median score, 4/17, was the cut‐off point used to create this dichotomous variable.