Table 3.

Results of linear regression models of poverty on waist circumference. Difference (inches) in waist circumference by exposure.

	African American Women
	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5	Model 6
Poverty (vs above poverty threshold)
Below poverty threshold	0.52	0.78	−0.08	−0.29	−0.41	−.40
Perceived life stress (vs little/no stress)
Very high		3.40	4.35	1.09	0.85	0.61
High		−0.82	−1.28	0.38	0.29	0.19
Some		0.57	0.86	0.85	0.68	0.56
Marital status (vs Married)
Divorced/separated			2.83	2.61^*	2.74^*	2.69^*
Widowed			5.06^*	3.79^†	3.84^†	3.69^†
Never married			−.20	1.83	1.85	1.77
# of kids (vs no kids)
1–2			1.26	0.76	0.83	0.85
3+			2.08	0.62	0.65	0.60
Social support (vs > 3 friends/relatives)
< 3 friends/relatives			0.10	−1.57	−1.55	−1.52
BMI				0.76^‡	0.76^‡	0.77^‡
Cigarette smoking (vs never smoker)
Current					0.40	0.41
Former					−0.70	−87
Cortisol (change per mcg/dL)						0.05

	White Women
	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5	Model 6
Poverty (vs above poverty threshold)
Below poverty threshold	0.73	.054	−0.12	−0.38	−0.30	−0.29
Perceived life stress (vs little/no stress)
Very high		3.59	3.23	1.49	1.65	1.67
High		2.50	2.59	0.79	0.83	0.81
Some		1.99	1.85	0.56	0.69	0.71
Marital status (vs Married)
Divorced/separated			1.56	1.27	1.17	1.18
Widowed			0.74	1.47	1.50	1.43
Never married			1.68	0.51	0.50	0.54
# of kids (vs no kids)
1–2			1.30	−0.13	−0.07	−0.02
3+			−1.21	1.65	1.90	2.02
Social support (vs > 3 friends/relatives)
< 3 friends/relatives			0.78	−0.01	−0.29	−0.32
BMI				0.78^‡	0.79^‡	0.79^‡
Cigarette smoking (vs never smoker)
Current					0.29	0.24
Former					0.96	0.95
Cortisol (change per mcg/dL)						0.01

Model 1: Adjusted for age; Model 2: Model 1+ perceived life stress; Model 3: Model 2+social network.

Model 4: Model 3+ BMI; Model 5: model 4 + cigarette smoking; Model 6: model 5+ cortisol.

<.05

^†

<.01

^‡

<.0001.