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Teacher and Friend Social Support: Association with Body Weight in African-American Adolescent Females.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect ecological influences of teacher and friend social support on body weight and diet behaviors in African-American adolescent females. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional research design, a convenience sample of 182 urban African-American adolescent females (12-17 years old) completed a 39-item questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed perceived teacher social support, friend social support, nutrition self-efficacy, and diet behaviors (with internal reliability values of scale items: alpha?=?0.74, 0.81, 0.77, and 0.69 respectively). Anthropometric assessments were conducted to measure height and weight to compute BMI. Majority of the participants were in middle or early high school (65 %) and were overweight or obese (57.7 %). Both teacher social support and friend social support demonstrated a positive, indirect influence on child weight status through nutrition self-efficacy and diet behaviors following two different and specific paths of influence. Diet behaviors, in turn, demonstrated a positive, direct effect on child weight status. In the structural model, teacher social support had the greatest effect on diet behaviors, demonstrating a direct, positive influence on diet behaviors (B?=?0.421, p?

SUBMITTER: Stanford J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5111167 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Teacher and Friend Social Support: Association with Body Weight in African-American Adolescent Females.

Stanford Jevetta J Khubchandani Jagdish J Webb Fern J FJ Lee Jenny J Doldren Michelle M Rathore Mobeen M

Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities 20150117 3

The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect ecological influences of teacher and friend social support on body weight and diet behaviors in African-American adolescent females. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional research design, a convenience sample of 182 urban African-American adolescent females (12-17 years old) completed a 39-item questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed perceived teacher social support, friend social support, nutrition self-efficacy, and diet behavi ...[more]

PMID: 26863465

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Project description:RATIONALE:Social support plays an important role in quality of life and health outcomes after breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. OBJECTIVE:To examine changes in perceived social support in African American women during the two years following a new breast cancer diagnosis. METHODS:This secondary analysis uses data collected from 2009 to 2015 from 227 newly diagnosed, African American women with breast cancer (mean age 56 [SD = 10], 59% household income < $25,000; 28% married/partnered, 72% early stage) participating in a randomized controlled trial testing the effects of a video-communication intervention on quality-of-life and follow-up care. Participants, all of whom received treatment in one metropolitan area of the Midwestern United States, completed five telephone interviews over 2-year follow-up; demographic, psychosocial, quality of life, and clinical data were collected. Growth curve models were used to examine change in perceived social support (measured by the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey) as well as correlates of baseline levels of social support and predictors of change in individuals' social support. Additional analyses examined whether change in social support over the first year affected depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) and general health perceptions (RAND SF-36 subscale) at two years. RESULTS:Being married, reporting greater spirituality, and reporting fewer depressive symptoms at baseline were significantly associated with higher initial levels of perceived social support. Women whose social support declined during the first year after diagnosis reported more severe depressive symptoms and worse general health perceptions at two years. CONCLUSION:Clinicians should periodically assess perceived social support among African American women with breast cancer to help find support resources for those who have low initial social support and for those whose support declines in the first year after diagnosis.

Project description:Social support is a well-established predictor of improved physical health outcomes among adults. Establishing whether maternal social support may have an inter-generational positive impact on their child's physical health will provide important information for developing potential interventions and policies. Elevated body mass index (BMI) is one indicator of child health that is linked to increased risk for cardiovascular disease and other morbidities later in life. There is some evidence that maternal social support is associated with improved child and adolescent weight status; however, no studies have examined whether specific aspects of social support are more impactful than others or whether support availability is differentially impactful across developmental stages. The present study examined whether maternal perceptions of specific types of social support (i.e., financial support, non-monetary instrumental support, partner emotional support, and having a close supportive contact) were associated with lower adolescent BMI z-scores using longitudinal data collected over a 15-year period from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 3146), which includes a high proportion of families experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. Findings from linear regression models using specific types of social support measured across six waves of data collected over a 15-year period indicated that maternal perceptions of greater financial support were associated with lower adolescent BMI z-scores at 15 years (B = -0.05, 95% CI: -0.10, -0.004, P = 0.04), while the other types of support were not. Additional timing analyses demonstrated that perceived financial support during late childhood to adolescence was associated with lower adolescent BMI z-scores (B = -0.06, 95% CI: -0.11, -0.01, P = 0.01), whereas associations between support during infancy and early childhood were not detected. Study findings provide important insights for developing interventions and policies that improve maternal social supports to benefit child health.

Dataset Information

Teacher and Friend Social Support: Association with Body Weight in African-American Adolescent Females.

Publications

Teacher and Friend Social Support: Association with Body Weight in African-American Adolescent Females.

Similar Datasets

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