Table 2.
Participants’ Characteristics and Psychosocial Health by Obesity Trajectory Groups
| Chronically Obese (n = 440) |
Decreasing (n = 294) |
Increasing (n = 262) |
Non-obese (n = 4,180) |
Total (n = 5,156) |
χ2 or F statistics |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographics | ||||||
| Gender (%) | ||||||
| Males | 56.8 | 41.2 | 58.4 | 49.4 | 50.0 | χ2(3)=25.4** |
| Females | 43.2 | 58.8 | 41.6 | 50.6 | 50.0 | |
| Ethnicity (%) | ||||||
| African-American | 46.4 | 38.4 | 41.6 | 33.0 | 34.9 | χ2(9)=55.6 ** |
| Hispanic | 21.1 | 23.1 | 22.1 | 21.6 | 21.6 | |
| White | 30.4 | 37.8 | 32.8 | 43.7 | 41.7 | |
| Other | 2.1 | 0.7 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 1.8 | |
| Psychosocial indicators | ||||||
| Self esteem (mean, SD) | 31.9 (3.7) | 32.4 (3.7) | 31.5 (3.6) | 32.2 (3.8) | 32.2 (3.8) | F(3,5034)=4.1** |
| High Self-esteem (%) | 33.0 | 37.4 | 24.6 | 33.7 | 33.4 | χ2(3)=11.2 * |
| Self control (Mean, SD) | 21.7 (2.8) | 22.0 (2.7) | 21.2 (2.7) | 21.8 (2.7) | 21.8 (2.7) | F(3,5033)=5.4** |
| High self control (%) | 53.4 | 57.1 | 42.6 | 54.5 | 53.9 | χ2(3)=14.9 ** |
| CESD score (Mean, SD) | 4.9 (3.2) | 4.6 (3.2) | 4.9 (3.1) | 4.6 (3.2) | 4.7 (3.2) | F(3,5043)=1.3 |
| CESD depression (%) | 24.2 | 17.7 | 23.8 | 20.5 | 20.9 | χ2(3)=6.3 |
| School experiences | ||||||
| Ever repeated a grade (%) | 27.8 | 21.4 | 35.2 | 23.8 | 24.6 | χ2(3)=20.9 ** |
| Ever skipped a grade (%) | 4.4 | 4.5 | 6.3 | 4.2 | 4.3 | χ2(3)=2.6 |
| High satisfaction with school (%) | 9.6 | 9.3 | 9.6 | 10.5 | 10.3 | χ2(3)=1.0 |
| Expect to go college (%) | 58.7 | 62.9 | 49.4 | 62.6 | 61.6 | χ2(3)=19.3 ** |
| Friendship | ||||||
| Often Feel lonely (%) | 10.4 | 10.0 | 14.6 | 8.2 | 8.8 | χ2(3)=14.0 ** |
| Number of friends (Mean, SD) | 19.0 (16.5) | 21.5 (17.8) | 19.6 (19.2) | 20.1 (17.5) | 20.0 (17.5) | F(3,5091)=1.3 |
| Peers influence: ever feel pressure from peers to | ||||||
| Try cigarettes (%) | 21.8 | 24.2 | 24.7 | 19.3 | 20.1 | χ2(3)=8.7 * |
| Try drugs (%) | 18.5 | 17.9 | 17.5 | 15.4 | 15.9 | χ2(3)=4.3 |
| Try alcohol (%) | 21.6 | 27.0 | 25.1 | 24.4 | 24.3 | χ2(3)=2.9 |
| Skip school (%) | 23.0 | 26.6 | 30.3 | 24.8 | 25.0 | χ2(3)=5.2 |
| Commit crime (%) | 18.5 | 16.1 | 19.5 | 13.6 | 14.7 | χ2(3)=12.1 ** |
| Work harder (%) | 79.0 | 79.0 | 78.5 | 76.2 | 76.7 | χ2(3)=3.1 |
| Dating and sexual activities | ||||||
| Started dating by age 14 (%) | 65.8 | 71.7 | 71.7 | 74.1 | 73.2 | χ2(3)=13.7 ** |
| Dating 1 or more per week (%) | 17.5 | 21.7 | 25.9 | 27.7 | 26.4 | χ2(3)=23.8 ** |
| Had sex by age 14 (%) | 34.2 | 33.8 | 36.4 | 30.6 | 31.4 | χ2(3)=5.4 |
| Had sex in the past year (%) | 59.3 | 61.5 | 67.1 | 63.1 | 62.8 | χ2(3)=2.3 |
Chi-square test or F-test:
*
p < 0.05;
**
p < 0.01