Abstract
Background/Aims The percent of overweight adolescents has tripled in the last 30 years, with increasing the risk for obesity and chronic diseases. Evidence suggests racial discrimination has implications for academic performance and health; however, research examining its contribution to obesity among adolescents is limited. We examined the association between discrimination and overweight status in a racially-diverse sample of healthy adolescents.
Methods Adolescents age 14–17 years completed a single research visit between November 2009 and June 2011. Height and weight were measured by trained staff. Discrimination was measured using 8 items from the school discrimination scale (SDS) which assesses the frequency with which adolescents perceive personal racial discrimination at school by their teachers and peers. Overweight was defined as a body mass index ≥85th percentile for sex and age. Logistic regression was used to estimate the association of discrimination with overweight status.
Results The sample consisted of 333 adolescents (mean age 16.4±1.0 years; 152 (44.6%) male; 174 (55.2%) African-American (AA); 127 (38.1%) overweight). Males had higher scores on the peer and teacher SDS than females, 1.26±0.47, 1.27±0.59 vs. 1.14±0.33, 1.18±0.48, P <.01 and P = 0.01 respectively. In crude analyses, adolescents with higher peer and teacher SDS scores were more likely to be overweight, OR = 1.3 P = 0.09 and OR = 1.3 P = 0.02, respectively. In race- and gender-specific models, white males with a higher teacher SDS score had a 5.1 higher odds of being overweight, P = .04. The association persisted with adjusting for age. There was no association among white females, AA males or AA females for teacher SDS score and overweight status, P = 0.68, P = 0.27, and P = 0.58 respectively. Additionally, we found no association by race or gender for peer SDS and overweight status.
Conclusions Our results suggest that adolescents, particularly males that report being discriminated against by their teachers, are more likely to be overweight. We likely did not observe an association between peer SDS and overweight status, because our population was recruited from a highly segregated area, where students attend schools with peers of the same race. Given adolescent health is predictive of adult health, additional research examining the role of discrimination in producing poor health outcomes among adolescents is warranted.
