Greater social cohesion is associated with lower body mass index among African American adults.

ABSTRACT: Obesity remains a public health issue, especially for Blacks (or African Americans). Obesity is thought to reflect a complex interaction of socioenvironmental, biological, and cognitive factors. Yet, insufficient attention has been given to psychosocial factors like social cohesion within the African American community. Using multivariable linear regression, we examined the association between social cohesion, measured by the Social Cohesion and Trust scale, and body mass index (BMI) with cross-sectional data (n = 1467) from a cohort study (2008-2009). Greater social cohesion was associated with lower BMI (b = -0.88; 95% CI: -1.45, -0.32) in an unadjusted model. The association was strengthened after further adjusting for relevant covariates (i.e., individual-level sociodemographic factors

SUBMITTER: Cuevas AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7200308 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature