Associations Between Boys' Early Childhood Exposure to Family and Neighborhood Poverty and Body Mass Index in Early Adolescence.

OBJECTIVE: To test relations between exposure to poverty, in the forms of family income and neighborhood deprivation, during three developmental stages, and children's body mass index (BMI) in early adolescence.
METHODS: Data came from a longitudinal sample of racially diverse, urban, low-income boys. Interactions between family income to needs and census-derived neighborhood deprivation at three developmental stages-early childhood (18 and 24 months), preschool-to-school entry (3.5 and 6 years), and school-age (8 and 10 years)-were tested in relation to BMI at age 11.
RESULTS: There was a significant interaction whereby higher income predicted lower BMI only in the context of low levels of neighborhood deprivation in early childhood. In high-deprivation neighborhoods, higher income was associated with risk for overweight/obesity in early adolescence. This pattern was found to be specific to income and neighborhood deprivation measured in early childhood.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings have implications for policy relevant to obesity prevention. More research on associations between early exposure to poverty and later risk for obesity on low-income samples is warranted, as the relationship is likely complex and influenced by many different factors, including the family and neighborhood food environments and child health behaviors.