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Adolescent Obesity and Young Adult Psychosocial Outcomes: Gender and Racial Differences

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Abstract

Using a sample of 7,881 African American (915 males and 1,073 females) and White (2,864 males and 3,029 females) adolescents from Waves 1 and 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined the psychosocial consequences that obese adolescents encounter as they reach young adulthood. Results indicate that obesity among adolescent females is associated with a lower status attainment in young adulthood than normal weight adolescent females. In addition, obese adolescent females have more depressive symptoms in young adulthood than normal weight females, even after controlling for prior depressive symptoms in adolescence. Obesity status among adolescent males is not associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes in young adulthood. We did not find evidence of an interaction between obesity status and race, indicating no significant differences in psychosocial outcomes for obese White compared to obese African American adolescents.

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Acknowledgments

This research is based on data from the Add Health Project, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry (principal investigator) and Peter Bearman and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with cooperative funding participation by the National Cancer Institute; the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders; the National Institute on Drug Abuse; the National Institute of General Medical Sciences; the National Institute of Mental Health; the National Institute of Nursing Research; the Office of AIDS Research, National Institutes of Health (NIH); the Office of Behavior and Social Science Research, NIH; the Office of the Director, NIH; the Office of Research on Women’s Health, NIH; the Office of Population Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS); the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DHHS; the Office of Minority Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DHHS; the Office of Minority Health, Office of Public Health and Science, DHHS; the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, DHHS; and the National Science Foundation. Persons interested in obtaining data files from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health should contact Add Health Project, Carolina Population Center, 123 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-3997 (email: addhealth@unc.edu).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Science, Oklahoma State University, 700 N. Greenwood Ave., 1111 Main Hall, Tulsa, OK, 74106, USA

    Michael J. Merten & Amanda L. Williams

  2. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    K. A. S. Wickrama

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  1. Michael J. Merten
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  2. K. A. S. Wickrama
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Correspondence to Michael J. Merten.

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Merten, M.J., Wickrama, K.A.S. & Williams, A.L. Adolescent Obesity and Young Adult Psychosocial Outcomes: Gender and Racial Differences. J Youth Adolescence 37, 1111–1122 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9281-z

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