Table 1.
Demographic and anthropometric characteristics of the 11- to 16-year-olds in this study, overall and by gender – mean (SD) or % (n)
| Whole sample | Boys | Girls | P* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n = 737) | (n = 351) | (n = 386) | ||
| Age (years) | 13.66 (1.48) | 13.63 (1.55) | 13.69 (1.42) | .644 |
| Ethnicity % (n) | ||||
| European | 34.5 (254) | 34.2 (120) | 34.7 (134) | .893 |
| Melanesian | 60.2 (444) | 60.1 (211) | 60.4 (233) | - |
| Polynesian | 5.3 (39) | 5.7 (20) | 4.9 (19) | - |
| SES % (n) | ||||
| Higher | 30.9 (228) | 32.2 (113) | 29.8 (115) | .056 |
| Intermediate | 24.8 (183) | 27.9 (98) | 22.0 (85) | - |
| Lower | 44.2 (326) | 39.9 (140) | 48.2 (186) | - |
| Residence % (n) | ||||
| Urban | 27.7 (204) | 30.8 (108) | 24.9 (96) | .074 |
| Rural | 72.3 (533) | 69.2 (243) | 75.1 (290) | - |
| Height (cm) | 158.42 (9.50) | 159.67 (11.25) | 157.28 (7.41) | .001 |
| Weight (kg) | 55.46 (14.60) | 55.50 (15.37) | 55.42 (13.89) | .938 |
| BMI-SDS | 0.792 (1.15) | 0.78 (1.18) | 0.80 (1.13) | .816 |
| BMI centile | 69.35 (27.97) | 68.47 (28.03) | 70.15 (27.94) | .415 |
| Weight status % (n) | ||||
| Underweight | 5.2 (38) | 4.3 (15) | 6.0 (23) | .176 |
| Lower normal weighta | 20.4 (150) | 23.1 (81) | 17.9 (69) | - |
| Upper normal weighta | 40.8 (301) | 41.6 (146) | 40.2 (155) | - |
| Overweight | 21.2 (156) | 18.2 (64) | 23.8 (92) | - |
| Obese | 12.5 (92) | 12.8 (45) | 12.2 (47) | - |
Mean +/− SD or % (n)
SES socioeconomic status, BMI-SDS body mass index standard deviation score
*P values are for the association between each variable and gender
a‘Lower normal-weight’ and ‘upper normal-weight’ categories are subcategories of the normal-weight category