Behavioral, socio-environmental, educational and demographic correlates of excess body weight in Italian adolescents and young adults

Abstract

Background and aims: Excess body weight (EBW) is the most prevalent nutritional disorder among adolescents worldwide. Identifying determinants of EBW may help find new intervention strategies. Behavioral, socio-economic, educational and demographic correlates of EBW were examined in a population of Italian adolescents, separately for males and females.

Methods and results: As many as 1039 male and 2052 female students (aged 16-19 ys) attending the last three years of different types of high-school of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy were offered participation, with 552 males and 841 females being finally evaluated. The prevalence of EBW was 21.0% in males and 14.1% in females. Step-wise multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed showing that EBW was negatively related to energy intake in males (odds ratio for 100 kcal/day (OR) = 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.89 to 0.98; P = 0.008), and to father's educational attainment (OR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.52 to 0.95; P = 0.020), but positively related to parental obesity (OR = 2.80, 95% CI: 1.65 to 4.76; P < 0.001). In females, EBW was positively related to parental obesity (OR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.15 to 3.29; P = 0.013), but negatively to mother's educational attainment (OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.45 to 0.97; P = 0.034) and type of attended school (OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.49 to 0.89; P = 0.007). Mother's occupation was also an independent determinant of EBW status in females (OR = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.18 to 0.85; P = 0.018 for being unemployed vs blue-collar).

Conclusion: Parental obesity is associated with EBW in male and female adolescents. Importantly, we found sex differences in socio-economic and educational factors impacting on EBW, supporting possible distinct area of investigation.

Keywords: Adolescents; BMI; Lifestyle; Obesity.