Childhood Overweight/Obesity amidst Migration, Socioeconomic Factors, and Obesogenic Behaviors: Insights from the Growing Up in New Zealand Study

Table 1

Distribution of sociodemographic characteristics for the whole sample and by maternal migration status and residential duration.

Sociodemographic characteristics (data collection wave)	Total sample (n = 5,506) n (%)	Maternal migration status			Maternal residential duration			Association with OW/OB for the whole sample OR(95% CI)
		NZ-born mothers n = 3,676 n (%)	Foreign-born mothers n = 1,830 n (%)	p-Value for χ^2	Recent migrants (n = 784) n (%)	Settled migrants (n = 1,035) n (%)	p-Value for χ^2
Child’s sex (DCW1)	2
Male	2,838 (51.5)	1,880 (51.1)	958 (52.3)	0.414	406 (51.8)	546 (52.8)	0.717	Ref; 1.13 (1.00, 1.27)
Female	668 (48.5)	1,796 (48.9)	872 (47.7)		378 (48.2)	489 (47.2)
Maternal age group (years) at pregnancy(DCW0)								Ref; 0.66 (0.52, 0.84); 0.50 (0.40, 0.64); 0.48 (0.31, 0.74)
≤20	328 (6)	279 (7.6)	49 (2.7)		19 (2.4)	28 (2.7)	0.001
21–30	2,251 (40.9)	1,464 (39.8)	787 (43)	0.001	402 (51.3)	383 (37)
31–40	2,784 (50.6)	1,842 (50.1)	942 (51.5)		348 (44.4)	588 (56.8)
>40	143 (2.6)	91 (2.5)	52 (2.8)		15 (1.9)	36 (3.5)
Maternal education (DCW0)								Ref; 0.75 (0.58, 0.97); 0.62 (0.48, 0.79); 0.37 (0.29, 0.47)
No secondary	317 (5.8)	274 (7.5)	43 (2.4)		10 (1.3)	33 (3.2)	0.0030
Secondary	1,209 (22)	801 (21.8)1	408 (22.4)	0.001	199 (25.4)	206 (19.9)
Diploma	1,675 (30.5)	149 (31.3)1	526 (28.9)		219 (28.0)	306 (29.6)
Tertiary	2,292 (41.7)	447 (39.4)	845 (46.4)		355 (45.3)	488 (47.2)
Languages spoken at home (DCW0)								Ref; 1.02 (0.87, 1.19)
English	4,573 (83.2)	3,616 (98.4)	957 (52.5)	0.001	329 (42)	622 (60.2)	0.001
Non-English	926 (16.8)	60 (1.6)	866 (47.5)		454 (58)	412 (39.8)
Area deprivation level (DCW5)								Ref; 0.48 (0.42, 0.56); 0.38 (0.33, 0.44)
Low (1–3)	1,721 (31.4)	1,198 (32.7)	523 (28.8)	0.001	214 (27.4)	309 (30.1)	0.321
Medium (4–7)	2,005 (36.6)	1,345 (36.8)	660 (36.3)		297 (38)	359 (35)
High (8–10)	1,751 (32)	1,116 (30.5)	635 (34.9)		270 (34.6)	358 (34.9)
Household income group (NZD) (DCW5)								Ref; 0.82 (0.62, 0.97); 0.70 (0.59, 0.83); 0.58 (0.49, 0.70)
≤$70k	1,591 (32.4)	1,052 (31.4)	539 (34.6)	0.024	234 (35.9)	301 (33.6)	0.006
$71k–$100k	1,078 (22)	721 (21.5)	357 (22.9)		163 (25)	193 (21.5)
$101k–$150k	1,234 (25.2)	866 (25.9)	368 (23.6)		158 (24.2)	208 (23.2)
>$150k	1,003 (20.4)	710 (21.2)	293 (18.8)		97 (14.9)	195 (21.7)
Receipt of income-tested benefit (DCW4)								Ref; 0.64 (0.56, 0.74)
Yes	1,049 (19.1)	747 (20.4)	302 (16.6)	0.001	107 (13.7)	192 (18.6)	0.007
No	4,444 (80.9)	2,922 (79.6)	1,522 (83.4)		672 (86.3)	842 (81.4)
Having a partner (DCW5)								Ref; 0.71 (0.59, 0.86)
Yes	4,972 (90.4)	3,272 (89.1)	1,700 (93)	0.001	748 (95.7)	943 (91.1)	0.001
No	530 (9.6)	402 (10.9)	128 (7)		34 (4.3)	92 (8.9)
High birth weight (>4 kg) (DCW1)								Ref; 2.1 (1.82, 2.42)
Yes	969 (17.6)	669 (18.2)	300 (16.4)	0.112	106 (13.6)	192 (18.6)	0.005
No	4,533 (82.4)	3,007 (81.8)	1,526 (83.6)		675 (86.4)	842 (81.4)
Having siblings (DCW5)								Ref; 1.01 (0.85, 1.25)
Yes	4,847 (88.1)	3,302 (89.9)	1,545 (84.5)	0.001	627 (80.2)	908 (87.7)	0.001
No	655 (11.9)	372 (10.1)	283 (15.5)		155 (19.8)	127 (12.3)

OW/OB, overweight/obesity. Bold values indicate statistical significance, suggesting that the results of the statistical tests show significant differences or associations. Ref, reference groups—these groups are used as benchmarks to assess the associations of other groups with the outcome variable in comparison to them.