JPP Student Journal Club Commentary: Associations between Boys ’ Early Childhood Exposure to Family and Neighborhood Poverty and Body Mass Index in Early Adolescence

Efforts to improve health behavior in youth at the individual and family level may prove futile if they are diminished by larger neighborhood and community level factors (Sallis, Floyd, Rodr íguez,& Saelens, 2012). For example, the uptake and implementation of behavioral interventions to prevent obesity may be restricted by neighborhood level factors such as reduced access to healthy foods and limited areas for physical activity (Drewnowski& Specter, 2004;Sallis et  al., 2012). Youth living in low-resourced communities may have a greater propensity for obesogenic behaviors brought on in part by environmental and economic constraints (Lovasi, Hutson, Guerra,& Neckerman, 2009). Although the link between poverty and childhood obesity is well established (Hernandez& Pressler, 2014;Shrewsbury& Wardle, 2008), the mediating drivers of this association have not been disaggregated at the family and neighborhood level (Hails& Shaw, this issue). Research identifying the unique, as well as transactional, influence of family and neighborhood mechanisms underlying the association between poverty and obesity is needed to enhance our understanding of the development of obesity as well as to inform future obesity prevention programs.
Source: Journal of Pediatric Psychology - Category: Pediatrics Source Type: research