TY - JOUR T1 - Food insecurity and gender are risk factors for obesity. AU - Martin,Katie S, AU - Ferris,Ann M, PY - 2006/01/30/received PY - 2006/08/15/revised PY - 2006/08/17/accepted PY - 2007/2/6/pubmed PY - 2007/3/23/medline PY - 2007/2/6/entrez SP - 31 EP - 6 JF - Journal of nutrition education and behavior JO - J Nutr Educ Behav VL - 39 IS - 1 N2 - OBJECTIVE: Examine relationships between adult obesity, childhood overweight, and food insecurity. DESIGN: Cross-sectional retrospective study. SETTING: Community settings in Hartford, Connecticut. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of 200 parents and their 212 children, aged 2-12. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Adult obesity (Body Mass Index [BMI] > 30), childhood overweight (BMI-for-age > 95(th) percentile), and household food security (U.S. Department of Agriculture module). ANALYSIS: Chi-square tests between weight status and socioeconomic characteristics. Multinomial regression analyses to determine risk factors for adult obesity and childhood overweight. RESULTS: Over half of parents (51%) were obese, and almost one-third of children (31.6%) were overweight. Over half of households were food insecure. Food insecure adults were significantly more likely to be obese as those who were food secure (Odds Ratio [OR]=2.45, p = .02). Being a girl and having an obese parent doubled the likelihood of children being overweight (OR=2.56, P = .01; OR=2.32, P = .03). Children with family incomes below 100% of poverty were half as likely to be overweight as those with higher incomes (OR=.47, P = .05). Food insecurity did not increase odds of childhood overweight. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Obesity prevention programs and policies need to address food insecurity and gender as key risk factors. SN - 1499-4046 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/17276325/Food_insecurity_and_gender_are_risk_factors_for_obesity_ L2 - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1499-4046(06)00603-8 DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -