The Impact of Ethnic-Immigrant Status and Obesity-Related Risk Factors on Behavioral Problems among US Children and Adolescents

Table 4

Mean behavioral problems index values and prevalence and unadjusted odds of serious behavioral problems according to ethnic-immigrant status and sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics, US children aged 6–17 years: the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health (N = 62,804).

Covariate	Behavioral problems index^1			Serious behavioral problem^2
	Mean	SE	P value	Weighted; prevalence (%)^3	SE	Unadjusted OR	95-percent confidence; interval
Total population	100.0	0.22		11.76	0.34
Age (years)
6–9	100.4	0.36	Reference	9.79	0.53	1.00	Reference
10-11	100.5	0.57	0.865	11.53	0.88	1.20	0.98−1.48
12–14	101.4	0.43	0.074	12.50	0.63	1.32	1.12−1.55
15–17	101.1	0.47	0.267	13.67	0.74	1.46	1.23−1.73
Gender
Male	102.0	0.31	<0.001	13.26	0.50	1.35	1.19−1.53
Female	99.6	0.32	Reference	10.19	0.45	1.00	Reference
Ethnic-immigrant status
Hispanic children of immigrant parents	99.4	0.99	<0.001	13.21	1.55	5.05	2.48−10.31
Hispanic children of US-born parents	102.4	1.03	<0.001	14.26	1.55	5.52	2.72−11.19
White children of immigrant parents	99.2	0.89	<0.001	8.74	1.16	3.18	1.54−6.53
White children of US-born parents	100.9	0.24	<0.001	10.13	0.37	3.74	1.92−7.29
Black children of immigrant parents	98.4	2.18	0.012	12.17	3.27	4.60	1.88−11.23
Black children of US-born parents	102.6	0.68	<0.001	16.95	1.00	6.77	3.44−13.32
Asian children of immigrant parents	92.3	1.10	Reference	2.93	0.96	1.00	Reference
Asian children of US-born parents	99.8	2.41	0.004	9.63	3.60	3.53	1.24−10.07
Other children of immigrant parents	96.2	2.13	0.104	8.33	1.96	3.02	1.31−6.93
Other children of US-born parents	103.4	0.82	<0.001	15.08	1.56	5.89	2.91−11.91
Mother's duration of residence in the US (years)
<5	98.7	2.05	0.225	9.41	2.88	0.81	0.41−1.57
5–9	99.0	1.48	0.147	13.19	3.10	1.18	0.69−2.02
10–14	97.2	1.53	0.009	10.95	2.31	0.95	0.60−1.53
15+	99.1	0.88	0.021	11.19	1.28	0.98	0.75−1.27
US born	101.2	0.24	Reference	11.41	0.36	1.00	Reference
Child's race/ethnicity
Non-Hispanic White	100.8	0.23	<0.001	10.04	0.36	2.49	1.48−4.19
Non-Hispanic Black	102.2	0.65	<0.001	16.46	0.96	4.40	2.58−7.50
Hispanic	100.8	0.71	<0.001	13.71	1.10	3.54	2.05−6.12
American Indian/Alaska native	102.7	1.45	<0.001	13.76	2.36	3.56	1.86−6.79
Asian	93.8	1.05	Reference	4.29	1.08	1.00	Reference
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	99.4	3.02	0.080	14.56	4.35	3.80	1.61−8.97
Non-Hispanic mixed race	102.7	1.06	<0.001	13.59	1.54	3.51	1.97−6.24
Other	102.2	1.81	<0.001	15.66	4.03	4.14	1.88−9.13
Household composition
Two-parent biological	98.4	0.26	Reference	8.04	0.36	1.00	Reference
Two-parent stepfamily	105.3	0.74	<0.001	17.78	1.27	2.47	2.03−3.01
Single mother	105.3	0.54	<0.001	18.45	0.94	2.59	2.22−3.02
Other family type	103.3	0.79	<0.001	16.78	1.22	2.31	1.90−2.81
Household poverty status (ratio of family income to poverty threshold)
<100%	105.7	0.68	<0.001	20.73	1.10	3.73	3.10−4.49
100–199%	102.2	0.59	<0.001	14.87	0.92	2.49	2.06−3.02
200–399%	100.3	0.38	<0.001	10.03	0.56	1.59	1.34−1.89
≥400%	97.9	0.29	Reference	6.55	0.40	1.00	Reference
Perceived neighborhood safety
Unsafe	106.1	0.72	<0.001	19.89	1.24	2.12	1.79−2.51
Safe	100.0	0.23	Reference	10.48	0.34	1.00	Reference
Television watching (number of hours per day)
<1	97.7	0.42	Reference	8.10	0.67	1.00	Reference
1	99.4	0.42	0.004	9.48	0.59	1.19	0.95−1.48
2	101.3	0.38	<0.001	11.79	0.62	1.52	1.23−1.87
>2	105.1	0.55	<0.001	18.05	0.85	2.50	2.03−3.08
Physical activity (number of days per week)
0	107.8	0.94	<0.001	22.90	1.43	3.06	2.54−3.68
1-2	103.9	0.72	<0.001	16.27	1.22	2.00	1.64−2.44
3-4	100.7	0.39	<0.001	10.91	0.65	1.26	1.07−1.48
5 or more	98.8	0.28	Reference	8.84	0.39	1.00	Reference
Sports participation
Yes	98.8	0.24	Reference	8.18	0.35	1.00	Reference
No	103.8	0.41	<0.001	16.88	0.64	2.28	2.01−2.59
Sleep behavior (number of nights child getting adequate sleep during past week)
0	112.0	1.56	<0.001	26.69	2.34	3.52	2.74−4.53
1–4	109.8	0.83	<0.001	22.23	1.33	2.77	2.32−3.30
5-6	102.8	0.39	<0.001	11.51	0.65	1.26	1.08−1.47
7	98.1	0.26	Reference	9.36	0.40	1.00	Reference
BMI status of child
Normal weight (<85th percentile)	99.9	0.28	Reference	10.37	0.41	1.00	Reference
Overweight (85th to <95th percentile)	101.3	0.61	0.041	11.79	0.75	1.15	0.98−1.36
Obese (≥95th percentile)	103.2	0.52	<0.001	14.94	0.86	1.52	1.30−1.78

1Higher scores on the index indicate higher levels of behavioral problems. ² This binary outcome variable was defined on the basis of whether or not the child had a BPI score >90th percentile.
³The 𝜒² test for the overall association between each covariate and the prevalence of serious behavioral problems was statistically significant at P < 0.01.