The impact of state policies for school-based BMI/fitness assessments on children's BMI outcomes in rural versus urban schools: Evidence from a natural experiment.

ABSTRACT: Childhood obesity remains a public health crisis because of its alarming prevalence and potential for costly long-term health consequences, especially among rural children. Schools are considered natural loci for policies to combat obesity because children spend most of their active hours and consume a substantial share of their calories, at school. Recent state policy efforts have involved measuring children's BMI and/or fitness to notify parents or inform surveillance efforts, but the empirical evidence to date is far from definitive. This study leverages plausibly exogenous assignment of military families as a natural experiment to assess the association of such polices with children's BMI and obesogenic behaviors. The sample is stratified by urbanicity because of the likely differences

SUBMITTER: Nicosia N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8880824 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature