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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2007.116103v1 99/12/2238    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Balistreri, K. S. Articles by Van Hook, J. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Balistreri, K. S. Articles by Van Hook, J. Related Collections Obesity, Overweight, Underweight Hispanics/Latinos Immigration

Kelly Stamper Balistreri, PhD and Jennifer Van Hook, PhD

Kelly Stamper Balistreri is with the Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH. Jennifer Van Hook is with the Department of Sociology and Demography, Pennsylvania State University, State College.

Correspondence: Correspondence can be sent to Kelly Stamper Balistreri, PhD, Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403 (e-mail: kellyba{at}bgsu.edu). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

Objectives. We examined how Hispanic parents' income and education, combined with their nativity status, influenced the body mass index (BMI) of their children, compared with non-Hispanic White children and their parents.

Methods. We used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 to estimate linear growth curve models of children's initial BMI in kindergarten and change in BMI through fifth grade. Socioeconomic status was measured by logged household income and parental educational attainment (less than high school, high school graduate, some college, college graduate or higher).

Results. Parental education was negatively associated with children's BMI (baseline and growth) for non-Hispanic White children. Among Hispanic children, the association of parental education with growth in BMI was negative but much weaker. The weak effect of parental education was not explained by the presence of immigrants in the Hispanic population. Income was strongly negatively associated with children's BMI in kindergarten among children of Hispanic and White natives, but positively associated among Hispanic immigrant families.

Conclusions. The positive income–BMI association among Hispanic immigrant children might reflect cultural differences that immigrant parents carry with them from their countries of origin.