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Table 1 Children’s sociodemographic characteristics at baseline and weight status of the US children at baseline and fifth wave of ECLS-K

From: Effects of school neighborhood food environments on childhood obesity at multiple scales: a longitudinal kindergarten cohort study in the USA

Variables

Percent or mean ± SD

p valuea

All (n = 7530)

Boys (n = 3780)

Girls (n = 3750)

Sociodemographic characteristics (1998)

 Age (years)

6.2 ± 0.4

6.3 ± 0.3

6.2 ± 0.3

0.012

 Race/ethnicity

   

0.153

  White

58.0

58.5

57.5

 

  Black

17.5

18.0

17.0

 

  Hispanic

18.2

18.4

18.1

 

  Asian

2.9

2.1

3.7

 

  Others

3.4

3.0

3.7

 

 Parental education

   

0.227

  ≤ High school

33.8

35.5

32.1

 

  Vocational/college

32.5

31.9

33.1

 

  Bachelor

19.2

19.1

19.3

 

  ≥ Graduate

14.5

13.5

15.5

 

 Household annual income ($)

   

0.503

  ≤ 30,000

35.0

35.7

34.2

 

  > 30,000 but ≤ 50,000

24.1

24.4

23.8

 

  > 50,000 but ≤ 75,000

18.4

17.3

19.6

 

  > 75,000

22.5

22.6

22.4

 

 Urbanicity

   

0.797

  Urban

68.4

68.1

68.6

 

  Non-urban

31.6

31.9

31.4

 

Weight statusb (1998)

 BMI (kg/m2)

16.4 ± 2.2

16.4 ± 2.0

16.4 ± 2.3

0.684

 Overweight and obesity

26.6

25.9

27.3

0.435

 Obesity

11.3

11.6

10.9

0.590

Weight statusb (2007)

 BMI (kg/m2)

22.9 ± 5.7

22.6 ± 5.2

23.2 ± 5.8

0.013

 Overweight and obesity

35.5

35.6

35.4

0.903

 Obesity

19.5

21.0

18.0

0.062

  1. Sampling weights were used in the analyses
  2. ap values tested the differences in each variable between genders and were based on χ2 tests for categorical variables or t tests for continuous variables
  3. bChildren were classified as overweight and obesity if their sex-age-specific body mass index (BMI) ≥ 85th and 95th percentiles of the 2000 CDC Growth Chart, respectively
  4. Italicized numbers indicate statistical significance p < 0.05