Vani R. Henderson
Longitudinal Associations Between Television Viewing and Body Mass Index Among White and Black Girls
Stanford University
purpose childhood overweight one important public health problems facing america today time spent watching television proposed causal factor study examines effects television tv viewing trajectory body mass index bmi course adolescence methods analyzed data tv viewing bmi national heart lung blood institute growth health study panel study 2379 white black girls followed 10 annual visits beginning age 9 10 years latent growth curve models used estimate effects daily tv viewing slope bmi one using tv viewing age 10 predict trajectory bmi ages 1114 one using tv viewing age 14 predict bmi trajectory ages 1519 models controlled baseline bmi physical activity maturation stage socioeconomic status results white girls higher levels baseline tv viewing positively associated steeper trajectory bmi 4 years following baseline visit ages 1114 years average tv viewing associated trajectory bmi last five 10 visits black girls tv viewing associated either trajectory bmi conclusions white girls watched tv baseline showed steeper increase bmi early adolescence compared girls watched less tv tv viewing may factor contributing overweight among young girls