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Positive School Climate Is Associated With Lower Body Mass Index Percentile Among Urban Preadolescents
Author(s) -
GilstadHayden Kathryn,
CarrollScott Amy,
Rosenthal Lisa,
Peters Susan M.,
McCaslin Catherine,
Ickovics Jeannette R.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/josh.12177
Subject(s) - body mass index , childhood obesity , context (archaeology) , percentile , obesity , psychological intervention , overweight , multilevel model , psychology , medicine , demography , environmental health , geography , sociology , statistics , mathematics , archaeology , pathology , machine learning , psychiatry , computer science
BACKGROUND Schools are an important environmental context in children's lives and are part of the complex web of factors that contribute to childhood obesity. Increasingly, attention has been placed on the importance of school climate (connectedness, academic standards, engagement, and student autonomy) as 1 domain of school environment beyond health policies and education that may have implications for student health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine the association of school climate with body mass index ( BMI ) among urban preadolescents. METHODS Health surveys and physical measures were collected among fifth‐ and sixth‐grade students from 12 randomly selected public schools in a small New England city. School climate surveys were completed district‐wide by students and teachers. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the association between students' BMI and schools' climate scores. RESULTS After controlling for potentially confounding individual‐level characteristics, a 1‐unit increase in school climate score (indicating more positive climate) was associated with a 7‐point decrease in students' BMI percentile. CONCLUSIONS Positive school climate is associated with lower student BMI percentile. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms behind this relationship and to explore whether interventions promoting positive school climate can effectively prevent and/or reduce obesity.