Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Objectives
Adolescent military-dependents experience distinct risk and protective factors, which may necessitate additional clinical considerations. In civilian youth, overweight/obesity is associated with eating, internalizing, and externalizing difficulties, with some studies reporting more difficulties among non-Hispanic White (vs. non-Hispanic Black) youth. It is unknown if these disparities exist among adolescent military-dependents, or between civilian and military-dependent youth.Methods
Non-Hispanic Black (187 civilian, 38 military-dependent) and non-Hispanic White (205 civilian, 84 military-dependent) adolescents with overweight/obesity (14.7 ± 1.6 years; 73.9% girls; body mass index adjusted for age and sex 1.9 ± 0.5) completed a disordered-eating interview; parents completed a measure assessing their child's internalizing and externalizing difficulties. Multiple linear regressions examined parental military-status as a moderator of the relationship of participant race with eating, internalizing, and externalizing difficulties.Results
White civilian youth with overweight/obesity reported significantly greater disordered-eating than their Black peers (p < .001); there were no other significant racial differences. In all regressions, parental military-status significantly moderated the association between race and each dependent variable (ps < .047). Black military-dependents (vs. civilians) reported more disordered-eating and internalizing difficulties (ps = .01). White military-dependents (vs. civilians) reported fewer externalizing difficulties (p = .01).Conclusions
Black adolescent military-dependents with overweight/obesity may experience more eating and internalizing difficulties (vs. civilians), a pattern not observed among White participants. Future work should examine if being a military-dependent and a historically marginalized racial group member accounts for these findings. Such data may inform providers of youth with intersecting minority identities.
SUBMITTER: Higgins Neyland MK
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9297095 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Higgins Neyland M K MK Shank Lisa M LM Lavender Jason M JM Burke Natasha L NL Rice Alexander A Gallagher-Teske Julia J Markos Bethelhem B Faulkner Loie M LM Djan Kweku G KG Kwarteng Esther A EA LeMay-Russell Sarah S Parker Megan N MN Schvey Natasha A NA Sbrocco Tracy T Wilfley Denise E DE Ford Brian B Ford Caitlin C Haigney Mark M Klein David A DA Olsen Cara H CH Quinlan Jeffrey J Jorgensen Sarah S Brady Sheila S Shomaker Lauren B LB Yanovski Jack A JA Tanofsky-Kraff Marian M
Journal of pediatric psychology 20220701 7
<h4>Objectives</h4>Adolescent military-dependents experience distinct risk and protective factors, which may necessitate additional clinical considerations. In civilian youth, overweight/obesity is associated with eating, internalizing, and externalizing difficulties, with some studies reporting more difficulties among non-Hispanic White (vs. non-Hispanic Black) youth. It is unknown if these disparities exist among adolescent military-dependents, or between civilian and military-dependent youth. ...[more]