Influence of country of birth and ethnicity on body mass index among Canadian youth: a national survey.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The body mass index (BMI) of youth often changes when they immigrate to a new country as a result of the adoption of new behaviours, a process called acculturation. We investigated whether BMI differs by country of birth (Canada v. other countries) and ethnicity, both individually and together. We also examined whether time since immigration and health-related behaviour explain any observed BMI differences.

Methods

Data sources were the Canadian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study and the Canada Census of Population. Participants were youth in grades 6-10 (weighted sample n = 19 272). A questionnaire was used to assess participants' sociodemographic characteristics, height, weight and health-related behaviour. We calculated BMIs from participants' self-

SUBMITTER: Kukaswadia A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4183182 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature