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Examination of the Interaction between Parental Military-Status and Race among Non-Hispanic Black and Non-Hispanic White Adolescents with Overweight/Obesity
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Examination of the Interaction between Parental Military-Status and Race among Non-Hispanic Black and Non-Hispanic White Adolescents with Overweight/Obesity

M. K. Higgins Neyland, Lisa M. Shank, Jason M. Lavender, Natasha L. Burke, Alexander Rice, Julia Gallagher-Teske, Bethelhem Markos, Loie M. Faulkner, Kweku G. Djan, Esther A. Kwarteng, …
Journal of pediatric psychology, Vol.47(7), pp.743-753
03/03/2022
DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsac008
PMCID: PMC9297095
PMID: 35238941
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsac008View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Objectives Adolescent military-dependents experience distinct risk and protective factors, which may necessitate additional clinical considerations. In civilian youth, overweight/obesity is associated with eating, internalizing, and externalizing difficulties, with some studies reporting more difficulties among non-Hispanic White (vs. non-Hispanic Black) youth. It is unknown if these disparities exist among adolescent military-dependents, or between civilian and military-dependent youth. Methods Non-Hispanic Black (187 civilian, 38 military-dependent) and non-Hispanic White (205 civilian, 84 military-dependent) adolescents with overweight/obesity (14.7 +/- 1.6 years; 73.9% girls; body mass index adjusted for age and sex 1.9 +/- 0.5) completed a disordered-eating interview; parents completed a measure assessing their child's internalizing and externalizing difficulties. Multiple linear regressions examined parental military-status as a moderator of the relationship of participant race with eating, internalizing, and externalizing difficulties. Results White civilian youth with overweight/obesity reported significantly greater disordered-eating than their Black peers (p < .001); there were no other significant racial differences. In all regressions, parental military-status significantly moderated the association between race and each dependent variable (ps < .047). Black military-dependents (vs. civilians) reported more disordered-eating and internalizing difficulties (ps = .01). White military-dependents (vs. civilians) reported fewer externalizing difficulties (p = .01). Conclusions Black adolescent military-dependents with overweight/obesity may experience more eating and internalizing difficulties (vs. civilians), a pattern not observed among White participants. Future work should examine if being a military-dependent and a historically marginalized racial group member accounts for these findings. Such data may inform providers of youth with intersecting minority identities.
Psychology Psychology, Developmental Social Sciences

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