title: Impact of parental socioeconomic status on childhood and adolescent overweight and underweight in Korea.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of overweight and underweight is steadily increasing among children and adolescents. To explore the relationship between parental socioeconomic status and body mass index, we examined levels of overweight and underweight among representative samples of children and adolescents in South Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed data from the 2009 Korean Survey on the Obesity of Youth and Children, conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute. The sample response rate for this survey was 93.9%. After excluding 745 subjects who had missing information on age, height, or weight, 9411 subjects were included. To measure parental socioeconomic status, 4 categories were assessed by using a structured questionnaire: subjective economic status, parental education level, parental occupational status, and family structure. We used the chi-squared test in univariable analysis and multinomial logistic regression in multivariable analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multinomial logistic regression analysis identified sex, education level, parental interest in weight management, and parental body shapes as statistically significant characteristics affecting overweight in children, and sex, place of residence, parental interest in weight management, and paternal and maternal body shapes as statistically significant characteristics affecting underweight (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Underweight and overweight coexist among adolescent Korean males of low socioeconomic status, which indicates that these conditions can coexist in developed countries. Appropriate interventions to address both overweight and underweight in adolescents are required.
authors.affiliation: Department of Healthcare Management, Eulji University.
authors.forename: Jin-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.forename: Young-eun
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jumin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: In-Hwan
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Young Dae
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Kwon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010290:Parents; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology*