Childhood Obesity

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Research conducted by: RAND Health

Featured at RAND

Food Deserts and Obesity

Roland Sturm's work analyzing the food environment in California and across the U.S. has been cited in a recent article in the New York Times, which focuses on the effects of "food deserts" in poorer neighborhoods.

All Items (50)

Journal Article

Predictors of Parent-Child Relationships That Support Physical Activity — Jan 3, 2013

father and son playing soccer

Family environments present opportunities for interventions that promote physical activity. Family members share genetic risk factors associated with chronic health conditions, and physical inactivity tends to cluster within families and households.

Journal Article

Parental and Peer Factors Associated with Body Image Discrepancy Among Fifth-Grade Boys and Girls — Jan 1, 2013

Getting along with peers as well as fear of being viewed negatively by them may influence the discrepancy between how adolescents view their body size and what they think the ideal size should be. Adolescents who have warm and nurturing parents are more likely to have positive views about their body size.

Journal Article

Is Obesity Associated with Reduced Health-Related Quality of Life in Latino, Black and White Children in the Community? — Jan 1, 2013

Overweight, obese and extremely obese 5th graders on average experience worse HRQOL than normal weight children, especially in psychosocial domains including self-worth and peer relationships, regardless of race/ethnicity.

Journal Article

Hispanic and Black U.S. Children's Paths to Obesity — Sep 10, 2012

By 8th grade, Hispanic and black children are 50 percent more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white children. Obesity is equally prevalent among Hispanic and black children, but it emerges and is sustained earlier in Hispanics. This should have implications for diagnosis and prevention strategies going forward.

Journal Article

Adolescent Girls' Most Common Source of Junk Food Away from Home — Sep 1, 2012

Contextual factors associated with adolescent girls' dietary behaviors could inform future interventions to improve diet.

Journal Article

Is There a Robust Relationship Between Neighbourhood Food Environment and Childhood Obesity in the USA? — Sep 1, 2012

To the extent that there is an association between food environment and youth obesity, the existence of more types of food outlets in an area, including supermarkets, is associated with higher BMI.

Journal Article

Peer Influence on Youth's Snack Purchases: A Laboratory Analog of Convenience Store Shopping — Aug 1, 2012

This paper reports the results of two experiments using a laboratory analog to examine the influence of taxes and subsidies on youth's snack food purchases when alone and when in the presence of a same-gender peer.

Journal Article

Influence of Peers and Friends on Children's and Adolescents' Eating and Activity Behaviors — Jun 1, 2012

In this article, we synthesize the empirical literature on the influence of peers and friends on youth's eating and physical activity.

Journal Article

Junk Foods in Schools and Childhood Obesity — Apr 1, 2012

The availabiltiy of junk food does not significantly increase BMI or obesity among a group of fifth-graders even though they are likely to buy junk food.

Journal Article

Does Neighborhood Food Environment Predict Youth Diets? — Feb 29, 2012

It's widely assumed that living near fast-food restaurants and convenience stores encourages overconsumption, while supermarkets encourage healthier diets. However, an analysis found no robust link between food environment and consumption in youths, indicating a more complicated relationship than some theories suppose.

Journal Article

Prenatal, Perinatal, Early Life, and Sociodemographic Factors Underlying Racial Differences in the Likelihood of High Body Index in Early Childhood — Jan 1, 2012

Racial disparities in early childhood high BMI were largely explained by potentially modifiable risk and protective factors.

Journal Article

Kids Are Gaining More Weight During the Elementary School Years — Nov 30, 2011

Nearly 40% of a nationally representative cohort of children started kindergarten with a BMI in the top quartile of the growth charts. This proportion increased significantly between 1st and 3rd grades but there was no further increase during middle school.

Journal Article

Coexistence of Obesity and Anemia in Children Between 2 and 18 Years of Age in Mexico — Nov 1, 2011

This article carries out a secondary data analysis to determine the frequency of anemia in different categories of body mass index (BMI) and the frequency in which obesity and anemia co-occurred in children between 2 and 18 years of age.

Journal Article

Systematic Self-Report Bias in Health Data: Impact on Estimating Cross-Sectional and Treatment Effects — Jul 1, 2011

This paper examines the effect of systematic self-report bias, the non-random deviation between the self-reported and true values of the same measure.

Journal Article

Increasing the Availability and Consumption of Drinking Water in Middle Schools: A Pilot Study — May 1, 2011

The authors assessed the acceptability, feasibility, and outcomes of a school-based intervention to improve drinking water consumption among adolescents.

Commentary

Worth Its Weight in Gold? — Apr 21, 2011

In terms of healthcare use and chronic health conditions, obesity is comparable to aging 20 years, with the health of a 30 year old resembling that of a 50 year old, writes Roland Sturm.

Journal Article

Preliminary Healthy Eating Outcomes of SNaX, a Pilot Community-Based Intervention for Adolescents — Feb 1, 2011

This project developed and designed Students for Nutrition and eXercise (SNaX), an intervention aimed at translating school obesity-prevention policies into practice with peer advocacy of healthy eating and school cafeteria changes.

Journal Article

Regional Price Differences and Food Consumption Frequency Among Elementary School Children — Feb 1, 2011

Geographic variation in food prices across the US affects youth's consumption of fruit, vegetables and milk; price variation does not seem to affect consumption of fast food or soft drinks, perhaps because consumption is less price sensitive.

Journal Article

The Role of School Physical Activity Programs in Child Body Mass Trajectory — Feb 1, 2011

Meeting the national recommendation for physical education and recess at school can help prevent obesity in children.

Journal Article

Mediators of Maternal Depression and Family Structure on Child BMI: Parenting Quality and Risk Factors for Child Overweight — Jan 1, 2011

Family environment—including parenting quality—is an important factor in influencing children's leisure activities, and thus interventions for child obesity may be more successful if they focus on family environment and its effect on children's active and sedentary behaviors.

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Researcher Spotlight

Christina Y. Huang

Assistant Policy Analyst

Christina Y. Huang

Christina Huang is a Ph.D. candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School and an assistant policy analyst at RAND. She received her B.S. in psychology and biology from the University of California, San Diego in 2003. She worked at the Child & Adolescent Services Research Center in San Diego…

Ashlesha Datar

Senior Economist

Ashlesha Datar

Ashlesha Datar is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research focuses on the role of school, neighborhood, and other contextual factors in determining children's health and educational outcomes, with a special focus on childhood…

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