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The environment contribution to gender differences in childhood obesity and organized sports engagement
Author(s) -
Nogueira Helena,
Costeira e Pereira Margarida M.,
Costa Diogo,
Gama Augusta,
MachadoRodrigues Aristides,
Silva MariaRaquel,
Marques Vítor R.,
Padez Cristina M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of human biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.559
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1520-6300
pISSN - 1042-0533
DOI - 10.1002/ajhb.23322
Subject(s) - overweight , obesity , confounding , logistic regression , childhood obesity , normal weight , demography , psychology , medicine , developmental psychology , sociology , endocrinology
Objective This study aims to analyze gender‐specific associations between sports activity outside of school and obesity, observing to what extent the local built environment contributes to the patterns found. Methods A total of 2253 children aged 6.0‐11.0 years were assessed: 49.3% girls and 50.7% boys. Children's weight and height were measured, age and sex‐specific BMI cut‐off points were used to define normal vs overweight/obesity. Children's organized sports (OS) activity was assessed by questionnaire, and local facilities for children's engagement in OS were analyzed. Logistic regression models were computed, adjusted for confounding variables. Results Results showed greater overweight and obesity (25.1% vs 20.1%) and lower OS engagement (66.5% vs 73.8%) in girls as well as greater impact of OS engagement on weight status in girls (OR for having a normal weight = 1.434 in girls vs 1.043 in boys). Additionally, opportunities to engage in OS were scarce for girls. Conclusions The gender gap in children's weight status and OS engagement might be enhanced by an environmental mismatch that undermines girls' opportunities to play sports. There should be more opportunities for girls to engage in their favorite sports as a means to tackle the obesity epidemic and to promote gender equality.