Individual characteristics and public or private schools predict the body mass index of Brazilian children: a multilevel analysis

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of individual and school characteristics to the variability in body mass index (BMI) z-scores of 7 to 10 years old children. Anthropometric and sociodemographic data from two cross-sectional studies conducted with schoolchildren from the 2nd to the 5th grades of elementary schools were analyses (n = 2,936 in 2002, and n = 1,232 in 2007). Multilevel modeling was used to estimate variations in BMI at child and school levels. The contribution of the school context to the overall variability of BMI z-score was small but significant in 2002 (3.3%-4.4%) and in 2007 (2.4%-5.3%), showing that schoolchildren from private schools had a higher BMI compared to those from public schools. The monthly family income showed, in general, a negative association with BMI z-score in 2002 and a positive association in 2007, for both sexes. The consumption of sweets showed a negative effect in the BMIs of children. In both surveys, overweight/obese mothers and excessive birth weight were positively associated with BMI z-score. Mother's weight status had a higher influence on the overall variability of BMI in both surveys. In conclusion, school and child characteristics contributed to the variance in children's weight status. The results imply that overweight/obesity childhood prevention programs should focus on strategies of family engagement to be more effective.

The Effect of Antibiotic Use Within the First Year of Life On 3-Year Childhood Obesity

“…For instance, Whiteaker et al carried out a study and detected that 2-year childhood obesity is more in the children of obese mother when compared with the children of non-obese mothers. 25 In another study conducted by Leal et al 26 found that risk of obesity increased from 50% to 80% in the children of obese parents during early childhood. We detected that the children of obese mothers are obese or overweighted when compared with children of mothers with normal bodyweight (p<0.05).…”

Screen time, body mass index and neck circumference: is there an association with social class in children?

“…Recently, a study conducted by Barreto Neto et al 19 with the objective of determining the prevalence of overweight and reviewing hazardous dietary intake and protection against cardiovascular diseases in adolescents, showed that in the research participants, overweight was frequent, presenting a prevalence of overweight of about 11% and obesity 6.8%, according to the BMI. A multilevel analysis reporting social levels that investigated individual characteristics of schoolchildren enrolled in public and private schools, showed that students attending private schools exhibited higher BMIs 20 .…”

Time trends in the prevalence of breastfeeding among schoolchildren from public and private schools in Florianópolis, Southern Brazil: From 2002 to 2013

“…The three data collection waves employed probability samples of schoolchildren aged 7 to 10 years enrolled in public and private elementary schools in the municipality (D'Avila, Silva, & Vasconcelos, ; de Assis et al, ; Gonsalez et al, ; Leal et al, ; Leal, de Assis, Gonzalez‐Chica, & da Costa, ; Pinho, Adami, Benedet, & Vasconcelos, ; Pudla, Gonzalez‐Chica, & de Vasconcelos Fde, ).…”

“…The type of school has been used as a proxy for socioeconomic conditions in studies that aim to establish a link between schools and student outcomes (Leal et al, ). The separation between the school type in public and private in Brazil can distinguish the students by social status (Ringer, ).…”

“…The separation between the school type in public and private in Brazil can distinguish the students by social status (Ringer, ). Although the public schools must have mostly of the concentration of students of lower socioeconomic status (SES; O'Malley, Johnston, Delva, Bachman, & Schulenberg, ), the children who attended private schools probably experienced better socioeconomic conditions than those attending public schools (Leal et al, ). Therefore, most of the association between the school levels SES can also accounted by individual‐level SES (O'Malley et al, ).…”