title: Does child-parent resemblance in body weight status vary by sociodemographic factors in the USA?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Clustered obese parents and children are prevalent, but there is little knowledge about whether and how child-parent resemblance varies by sociodemographic groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper used nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES: 1988-1994). We matched 4958 parents with 6765 children aged 2-16 years old for whom we had complete data on body mass index (BMI), overweight and obesity status. Correlation coefficients and κ statistics between parents' and children's BMI and body weight status were calculated for different sociodemographic groups. Multivariate linear and logistic regression models were fit to study the child-parent resemblance and socioeconomic and demographic differences in the resemblance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The child-parent correlation coefficients for BMI were greater in Caucasians than in minorities and greater in groups with higher socioeconomic status. The mother-child resemblance in BMI was negatively associated with child age (p<0.001). The mother-daughter resemblance in overweight was significantly lower in non-Hispanic blacks (OR=0.53, 95% CI (0.36 to 0.78)) and Mexican Americans (OR=0.58, 95% CI (0.36 to 0.93)) than in Caucasians. The father-child resemblance in overweight was significantly lower in high school graduates compared with those with less-than-high-school-graduate fathers (OR=0.53, 95% CI (0.37 to 0.77) for father-son dyads and OR=0.69, 95% CI (0.50 to 0.96) for father-daughter dyads). Similar results were found for parent-child resemblance in obesity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Child-parent resemblance in body weight status exists across sociodemographic groups in the USA, but it varies by demographics and socioeconomic status.
authors: School of Community and Environmental Health, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
authors: Qi
authors: Q
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Mathematics, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, Texas, USA.
authors: Rajan
authors: R
authors: Lamichhane
authors: Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Global Center on Childhood Obesity, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors: Hsin-Jen
authors: HJ
authors: Chen
authors: Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Global Center on Childhood Obesity, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health (former Department of Social and Preventive Medicine), University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA.
authors: Hong
authors: H
authors: Xue
authors: Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Global Center on Childhood Obesity, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health (former Department of Social and Preventive Medicine), University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York, USA.
authors: Youfa
authors: Y
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005220:Fathers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Child Health; Obesity; Social Epidemiology