title: College expectations in high school mitigate weight gain over early adulthood: Findings from a national study of American youth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Research conducted on school-based interventions suggests that school connectedness protects against a variety of risk behaviors, including substance abuse, delinquency and sedentary behavior. The line of research is extended by examining the link between college expectations and early adult weight gain using nationally representative panel data from thirty cohorts of American high school seniors followed prospectively to age 30 in the Monitoring the Future Study (1986-2009).
  
  
  METHODS
  Growth mixture models identified two latent classes of trajectories of body mass index (BMI) from age 19 to 30: a persistently overweight class (BMI ≥ 25) and a second class exhibiting more moderate growth in BMI to age 30.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to those who did not expect to graduate from college, students fully expecting to graduate from college had 34% lower odds of being in the persistently overweight class (adjusted odds ratio = 0.66, 95% confidence interval = 0.54, 0.81), controlling for academic performance and socioeconomic status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Successful prevention of obesity early in the life course is based on a multifactorial approach incorporating strategies that address the contexts in which adolescents are embedded. The school setting may be one avenue where successful educational attachment could have positive consequences for subsequent weight gain in early adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, MI, USA. pjclarke@umich.edu
authors.forename: Philippa J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: Patrick M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: O'Malley
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Schulenberg
authors.forename: Hedwig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Colabianchi
authors.forename: Lloyd D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Johnston
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014495:Universities; D015430:Weight Gain; D055815:Young Adult