Socioeconomic Determinants of Overweight and Obesity, Sports Team Participation, and Physical Activity Among US Children Aged Six to Eleven Years

Introduction: This study identifies socioeconomic determinants of childhood overweight, physical activity, and sports team participation among U.S. children. Methodology: The study uses data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, a nationally representative telephone survey of 64,076 children aged 6-17 years old. Logistic regression is used to identify the effects of age, sex, race/ethnicity, household income, immigrant generation, parental education, parental physical activity, household smoking, neighborhood factors, and metropolitan residence on childhood overweight, physical activity, and sports team participation. Results: Logistic models indicate that all three outcomes vary significantly based on neighborhood and household-level factors. Males are significantly more likely to be overweight, be highly physically active, and to have played on a sports team than females. Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black children are more likely to be overweight and less likely to have been on a sports team than non-Hispanic White children. First generation immigrant children are less than half as likely as native children to have high physical activity. Children living in a household with a smoker are 28% more likely to be overweight and 27% less likely to have been on a sports team than children in non-smoking households. Children with highly physically active fathers and mothers are 56% and 74% more likely to be highly physically active than other children, respectively. Discussion: Interventions to reduce childhood overweight and increase physical activity should be targeted at specific high-risk socioeconomic groups and should include both children and parents, because parents have an important impact on children's health behaviors.