Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access published online on May 22, 2008
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsn047
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Correlates of Overweight and Obesity in American Indian Children*
University of North Dakota, Department of Psychology
All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tami Jollie-Trottier, PhD, Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, 700 First Avenue S, Fargo, ND 58103, USA. E-mail: Tjollie-trottier{at}nrifargo.com
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Objective To identify risk factors that may contribute to the development and/or maintenance of overweight and obesity in American Indian children. Methods The sample consisted of 291 tribally enrolled American Indian children. Body mass index (BMI) was measured by a tribal program and children completed self-report measures during health class. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted for 232 children and included three blocks of predictor variables (diet and physical activity, weight-related attitudes, and psychosocial variables). Results Thirty-three percent of children were obese and 20% were overweight. Diet and physical activity (7.6%) and weight-related attitudes (31.9%) made significant contributions, explaining 39.5% of the variance in BMI. Conclusions Greater BMI scores were related to healthier food choice intentions, more hours of television viewing, greater body dissatisfaction, higher negative attitudes toward body size, and more weight loss attempts.
Key words: American Indian; childhood; obesity; overweight.
*Data for the current study was collected in 2003–2004 as part of the first author's dissertation research project Predicting Body Mass Index in Northern Plains American Indian Children.
Received July 19, 2007; revision received April 21, 2008; accepted April 23, 2008