Bangdiwala leads multi-center study to examine cultural factors, obesity in Latino youth

Childhood obesity strongly influences the risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in adulthood. U.S. Latino youth are more overweight or obese than non-Hispanic white youth and are at risk for lasting cardiovascular complications into adulthood. This study will examine a wide range of cultural factors such as family environment, physical and social, associated with obesity in Latino boys and girls aged 8-14 years old from the Bronx (N.Y.), Chicago, Miami, and San Diego. Findings from this study will inform practice and policy efforts to develop programs to prevent obesity in Latino youth and thus improve the health of future generations.

 

The specific aims of this study are: (1) to evaluate the influence of youth acculturation and intergenerational differences in acculturation between youth and parents on youth’s lifestyle behaviors and their cardiometabolic risk profiles; (2) to test the association of parenting strategies and practices with children’s lifestyle behaviors and cardiometabolic risk profiles; and, (3) to assess the influence of youths’ psychosocial functioning on youth lifestyle behaviors and cardiometabolic risk profiles.

 

This study is an ancillary study to the NIH-funded Hispanic Community Health Study-Study of Latinos (HCHS-SOL). HCHS-SOL is a multi-center epidemiologic study in Hispanic/Latino populations to determine the role of acculturation in the prevalence and development of disease, and to identify risk factors playing a protective or harmful role in Hispanics/Latinos. The study is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and six other institutes, centers, and offices of the NIH.