Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics for Research Variables by BMI Category
| Variables | Full Sample (N = 364) |
Obese (N = 180) |
Not Obese (N = 184) |
Test of significance and p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 35.07(9.46) | 36.67(9.05) | 33.50(9.61) | t = 3.24*** |
| Years in the community | 11.27(9.20) | 12.33(9.38) | 10.24(8.93) | t = 2.18* |
| Number of children | 2.04(1.72) | 2.42(1.74) | 1.68(1.62) | t = 4.18*** |
| Education | 12.96(6.33) | 12.64(6.54) | 13.27(6.11) | t = 0.94 |
|
Household income X ≤ 20k 20k < X ≤ 40k 40k < X ≤ 60k 60k < X |
68.3% 21.3% 6.7% 3.7% |
69.9% 18.7% 6.6% 4.8% |
67% 23.8% 6.9% 2.3% |
χ2 = 0.59 |
|
Health coverage Yes |
39.6% |
42.8% |
36.4% |
χ2 = 1.54 |
| English fluency | 2.30(1.23) | 2.38(1.25) | 2.22(1.21) | t = 1.24 |
|
Language of survey Spanish |
59.9% |
64.4% |
55.4% |
χ2 = 3.08 |
| Born in the U.S. | 32.1% | 30% | 34.2% | χ2 = 0.39 |
|
Family’s country of origin1 Mexico El Salvador Guatemala Honduras |
70.5% 16.3% 12.7% 2.5% |
70.6% 14.4% 12.2% 2.8% |
70.5% 18% 13.1% 2.2% |
χ2 = 4.24 |
|
Marital status Married Separated Divorced Widowed Single (never married) Living with partner |
35.4% 5.2% 3.8% 1.9% 32.1% 21.4% |
37.8% 5.6% 2.2% 2.2% 27.2% 25% |
33.2% 4.9% 5.4% 1.6% 37% 17.9% |
χ2 = 8.04 |
|
Employment status Full time Part time Self-employed Laid off Homemaker Student Permanently disabled |
28.7% 21.8% 8.8% 5.5% 24% 9.9% 1.4% |
31.7% 18.9% 8.3% 6.1% 26.1% 7.8% 1.1% |
25.7% 24.6% 9.3% 4.9% 21.9% 12% 1.6% |
χ2 = 5.34 |
| Level of stress | 7.42(2.45) | 7.62(2.46) | 7.22(2.43) | t = 1.54 |
| Fruit & vegetables intake | 2.16(1.30) | 2.06(1.30) | 2.25(1.31) | t = 1.34 |
| Fast-food consumption | 0.80(0.98) | 0.82(1.03) | 0.78(0.93) | t = 0.40 |
| Number of health-related social ties | 1.88(1.32) | 1.74(1.19) | 2.02(1.42) | t = 2.02* |
|
Health ties Female friend Sister Mother Daughter Female relatives Husband Female co-worker Female cousin Partner |
27.8% 18.5% 13.4% 8.2% 7.4% 5.5% 3.4% 3.4% 3.1% |
24.5% 19.7% 13.7% 9.2% 5.7% 7% 3.5% 3.5% 3.8% |
30.6% 17.5% 13.2% 7.3% 8.9% 4.3% 3.2% 3.2% 2.4% |
χ2 = 19.73 |
|
Sources of health information1 Television Radio Newspapers Magazines Brochures Internet Community organizations |
46.1% 9.5% 3.4% 8.9% 28.6% 34.2% 7% |
49.8% 9.1% 3.7% 7.8% 29.6% 29.6% 6.6% |
42.5% 9.8% 3.1% 9.8% 27.6% 38.6% 7.5% |
χ2 = 2.65 |
|
Media preference Mainstream media |
56% |
63.3% |
48.9% |
χ2 =7.68*** |
Note: Group comparisons (obese versus not obese) are chi-square analyses for categorical variables and independent samples t-tests for continuous measures;
*
p < .05,
**
p < .01,
***
p < .001; degrees of freedom (df) are 362 for t-tests. Due to the existence of minor categories, the percentages for certain variables do not add up to 100%.
1
The percentages provided for these variables sum to more than 100% because respondents could choose more than one answer option.