Search Results

Methods: Using National Longitudinal Study of Youth data, we examined associations between SES indicators and age at menarche. Participants were 4851 girls and their mothers. We used survival analyses to examine whether SES, at various time points, was associated with menarche, whether body mass index (BMI) mediated associations, and whether race/ethnicity modified associations.

Results: Black and Hispanic girls experienced menarche earlier than whites. After adjusting for SES, there was a 50% reduction in the effect estimate for "being Hispanic" and 40% reduction for "being Black" versus "being white" on menarche. SES indicators were associated uniquely with earlier menarche, including mother's unmarried status and lower family income. Associations varied by race/ethnicity. BMI did not mediate associations.

Conclusion: Racial differences in menarche may in large part be due to SES differences. Future experimental or quasi-experimental studies should examine whether intervening on SES factors could have benefits for delaying menarche among Blacks and Hispanics.

Methods: Using the National Longitudinal Survey on Youth 1997, a nationally representative data set of adolescents followed into their mid-thirties (1997-2017), we calculated the mean cumulative count, or the average number of criminal legal events per person per study visit, stratified by juvenile sanctions and race.

Results: Of 7,024 participants, 1,679 experienced 3,075 encounters. There were seven arrests, 30 charges, nine probation encounters, and 13 incarceration events /100 participants by age 35. Juvenile sanctions were most common for Black individuals. Among those experiencing juvenile sanctions, Black and White individuals had similar numbers of encounters, but Black individuals had more arrests and incarceration stays. For those without juvenile encounters, Black individuals had more encounters than White individuals.

Conclusions: Research on health effects of criminal legal sanctions must consider encounters beyond incarceration and focus on life course trajectories and racial inequities.

RESULTS: After adjusting for sex, ethnicity, gestational age, breastfeeding, mother's age, education, and alcohol use during pregnancy, maternal smoking during pregnancy was significantly associated with childhood overweight without adjusting for birth weight (model 1, total effect tau1 = 0.36, p = 0.006). Maternal smoking during pregnancy was significantly associated with reduced birth weight (model 2, alpha = - 0.21, p<0.0001). The direct effect of maternal smoking on childhood overweight with adjusting for birth weight was increased (model 3, direct effect tau2 = 0.42, p = 0.002). Birth weight was also significantly associated with childhood overweight (model 3, beta = 0.23, p = 0.03). The suppression effect (product of alpha and beta = -0.05, p = 0.04) of birth weight accounted for 14% of the total effects of maternal smoking on childhood overweight.

Methods: Data on health behaviors among 7,074 pregnancies in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 were linked to monthly unemployment rates in maternal state of residence. The study examined associations between exposure to unexpected economic contraction (higher than expected state-level unemployment) during each trimester of pregnancy and maternal smoking, alcohol use, and gestational weight gain using generalized linear models.

Results: Economic contraction was not associated with maternal smoking or gestational weight gain. Associations between economic contraction and maternal alcohol use differed by maternal race/ethnicity and education. Among Black/non-Hispanic women, exposure to economic contraction during the first and second trimester of pregnancy were associated with a 42% (95% CI: 1.08, 1.85) and 33% (95% CI: 1.01, 1.74) increased risk of alcohol use, respectively.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that exposure to extreme economic contraction during pregnancy may be associated with increased use of alcohol with differences by maternal race/ethnicity and educational attainment. Economic contraction was not associated with other maternal pregnancy behaviors.

Methods: We used data from the 1979 U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to test associations between measures of adverse childhood experiences with obesity and smoking and used an instrumental variables approach to address potential measurement error of the exposure.

Results: Models demonstrated associations between childhood physical abuse and obesity at age 40 years (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.00-1.52) and ever smoking (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.56-2.16), as well as associations between household alcohol abuse (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.31-1.79) and household mental illness (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.04-1.60) with ever smoking. We find no evidence of association modification by gender, socioeconomic position or race/ethnicity. Instrumental variables analysis using a sibling's report of adverse childhood experiences demonstrated a relationship between household alcohol abuse and smoking, with a population attributable fraction of 17% (95% CI 2.0% to 37%) for ever smoking and 6.7% (95% CI 1.6% to 12%) for currently smoking.

Conclusions: Findings suggest long-term impacts of childhood exposure to physical abuse, household alcohol abuse and parental mental illness on obesity and smoking, and that the association between household alcohol abuse and smoking is not solely due to measurement error.

Methods: Participants (N=8,984) were from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 aged 13-17 at baseline in 1997, and 29-32 in 2013. We examined the prevalence of family deaths by age group and race/ethnicity, and used covariate-adjusted logistic regression to assess the relationship between a family death and college degree attainment.

Results: 4.2% of white youth experienced a family death, as did 5.0% of Hispanics, 8.3% of Blacks, 9.1% of Asians, and 13.8% of American Indians (group test p<0.001). A family death from ages 13-22 was associated with lower odds of obtaining a Bachelor's degree by ages 29-32 (OR=0.65, 95%CI=0.50, 0.84), compared to no family death. The effect of a death was largest during college years (age 19-22) (OR=0.57, 95%CI=0.39, 0.82).