Parental incarceration and gender-based risks for increased body mass index: evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Although recent studies suggest that 13% of young adults, including at least one-fourth of African Americans, experience parental incarceration, little research has examined links between parental incarceration and physical health. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (1994-2008) and gender-based theories of stress, the authors examined whether parental incarceration is associated with increased body mass index among women but not men. Panel analysis spanning adolescence and adulthood, controlling for stressful life events, internalizing behaviors, and a range of individual, familial, and neighborhood characteristics, reveals that body mass index for women who have experienced parental incarceration is 0.49 units (P < 0.004) higher than that for women whose

SUBMITTER: Roettger ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3324435 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature