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Obesogenic Clusters: Multidimensional Adolescent Obesity-related Behaviors in the U.S.

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

Diet, physical activity, and psychosocial factors are independent and potentially interactive obesity determinants, but few studies have explored complex behavior patterns.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine obesity-related behavior patterning and identify high-risk adolescent groups.

Methods

Cluster analysis identified groups with shared behavior patterns in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (1995 and 1996, ages 11–21; N = 9,251). Descriptive and multivariate regression analyses compared sociodemographics and prevalent and incident obesity across clusters.

Results

Seven and six clusters in males and females, respectively, represented behavior patterns such as School Clubs & Sports, Sedentary Behaviors, Dieters, and Junk Food & Low Activity. Sociodemographics varied across clusters. Compared to School Clubs & Sports clusters, adjusted odds of prevalent and incident obesity were higher for most clusters in females but not males.

Conclusions

Cluster analysis identified several obesogenic behavior patterns, highlighting areas for future research and potential avenues for interventions that target broad lifestyle factors.

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Acknowledgments

The major funding of this project comes from the National Institutes of Health (R01-HD057194). The authors would like to thank Ms. Frances Dancy for her helpful administrative assistance. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Persons interested in obtaining data files from Add Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524 (addhealth@unc.edu). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. There were no potential or real conflicts of financial or personal interest with the financial sponsors of the scientific project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Schools of Public Health & Medicine, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Janne Boone-Heinonen M.P.H., Penny Gordon-Larsen Ph.D. & Linda S. Adair Ph.D.

  2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 123 West Franklin St. Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516-3997, USA

    Penny Gordon-Larsen Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Janne Boone-Heinonen M.P.H.
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  2. Penny Gordon-Larsen Ph.D.
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  3. Linda S. Adair Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Penny Gordon-Larsen Ph.D..

Appendix

Appendix

Table 6 List of cluster input variables and corresponding National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health questionnaire items
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Boone-Heinonen, J., Gordon-Larsen, P. & Adair, L.S. Obesogenic Clusters: Multidimensional Adolescent Obesity-related Behaviors in the U.S.. ann. behav. med. 36, 217–230 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-008-9074-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-008-9074-3

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