Sexual Orientation Disparities in BMI among US Adolescents and Young Adults in Three Race/Ethnicity Groups
Table 1
Descriptive statisticsa for ageb and BMIc by race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation among 7,140 female and 6,166 male adolescents and young adults in the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Waves I–IV (1995–2009).
Non-Latino white
Females
Males
Heterosexual (n = 12,500)
Mostly heterosexual (n = 2,815)
Bisexual ()
Lesbian ()
Heterosexual (n = 13,143)
Mostly heterosexual ()
Bisexual ()
Gay ()
Age (Wave I)
15.97 (1.72)
15.74 (1.70)
15.57 (1.55)
15.87 (22.73)
16.15 (1.70)
15.91 (1.73)
16.05 (1.48)
15.88 (1.64)
BMI
Wave I
21.84 (4.10)
21.79 (4.11)
22.97 (5.31)
22.73 (5.07)
22.59 (4.37)
22.55 (5.25)
22.38 (3.86)
21.90 (3.93)
Wave II
22.20 (4.48)
22.14 (4.35)
24.18 (6.36)
23.56 (5.33)
22.96 (4.41)
23.11 (5.85)
23.30 (4.08)
22.94 (4.41)
Wave III
24.98 (5.96)
24.91 (5.69)
27.98 (7.77)
26.16 (6.67)
25.78 (5.10)
24.57 (5.85)
25.86 (5.17)
24.19 (4.59)
Wave IV
27.47 (7.17)
27.07 (6.87)
30.25 (9.40)
28.52 (7.29)
27.96 (5.77)
27.04 (7.43)
30.17 (6.34)
29.06 (5.28)
Non-Latino black/African American
Females
Males
Heterosexual (n = 5,481)
Mostly heterosexual ()
Bisexual ()
Lesbian ()
Heterosexual (n = 4,690)
Mostly heterosexual ()
Bisexual ()
Gay ()
Age (Wave I)
16.02 (1.70)
15.84 (1.70)
15.34 (1.75)
15.62 (1.88)
16.08 (1.74)
16.15 (1.80)
15.29 (1.79)
15.60 (1.62)
BMI
Wave I
23.53 (5.11)
24.08 (4.95)
24.85 (6.02)
24.86 (5.44)
22.93 (4.39)
23.47 (5.37)
21.93 (3.92)
23.07 (5.29)
Wave II
23.95 (5.47)
24.72 (5.16)
25.67 (7.21)
25.56 (6.27)
23.46 (4.63)
25.16 (5.75)
21.39 (2.67)
24.76 (6.40)
Wave III
27.17 (7.11)
28.29 (7.25)
27.90 (8.02)
28.79 (6.79)
26.27 (5.53)
26.42 (5.32)
25.71 (5.27)
25.38 (6.02)
Wave IV
30.54 (8.16)
31.16 (8.07)
30.47 (7.28)
32.14 (8.81)
28.45 (6.28)
28.75 (8.49)
26.20 (7.26)
26.72 (6.49)
Latina/o
Females
Males
Heterosexual (n = 3,654)
Mostly heterosexual ()
Bisexual ()
Lesbian ()
Heterosexual (n = 3,719)
Mostly heterosexual ()
Bisexual ()
Gay ()
Age (Wave I)
16.44 (1.63)
16.00 (1.58)
16.07 (2.09)
15.83 (1.82)
16.47 (1.69)
16.22 (1.75)
16.25 (2.21)
16.52 (1.59)
BMI
Wave I
22.79 (4.31)
22.96 (4.23)
24.47 (3.40)
23.39 (5.11)
23.55 (4.78)
24.90 (6.45)
23.43 (6.46)
24.15 (4.45)
Wave II
22.89 (4.37)
23.45 (5.46)
25.29 (4.04)
23.44 (4.50)
23.88 (4.76)
26.00 (6.69)
25.84 (7.72)
24.72 (5.27)
Wave III
25.93 (5.60)
26.62 (6.71)
28.68 (6.11)
28.18 (5.47)
27.15 (5.23)
29.19 (8.67)
25.81 (5.33)
25.20 (3.87)
Wave IV
28.46 (6.93)
29.01 (7.58)
30.72 (7.36)
29.65 (8.02)
29.65 (5.99)
29.21 (7.36)
24.49 (11.43)
28.37 (5.63)
Means are reported with standard deviations in parentheses.
bAge is in years.
cBMI was measured as kg/m2.
