Title
Time use and sexual maturity−related indicators differentially predict youth body mass indices, Peruvian girls versus boys
Date Issued
01 January 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
Blackwell Publishing Inc.
Abstract
Rapid development in Latin America has been accompanied by lifestyle shifts, including changes in time use and social environments. Overweight/obesity has also emerged as a public health challenge. We examined whether lifestyle changes and sexual maturity−related indicators (early pubertal development and having a child) predict increases in adiposity among Peruvian youth. Using longitudinal data from Young Lives, we examined changes in adiposity between ages 8 and 15 years old for the younger cohort and ages 15 and 22 years old for the older cohort. Boys and girls in both cohorts demonstrated substantial increases in age-adjusted adiposity measures, but predictors were different for boys versus girls. For boys, increases in time spent in work and domestic chores predicted increases in adiposity body mass index and BMI-for-age Z-score and increases in time spent sleeping were associated with decreases in adiposity (waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio). For girls, sexual maturity−related indicators (early menarche and childbearing) predicted increases in adiposity, regardless of time use. Potential mechanisms for these results may include diet, physical activity, wealth, and urban−rural residence. Time use among youth was associated with diet quality and physical activity, but in different ways for boys versus girls. Strategies for dealing with rising overweight and obesity should incorporate sex-based specificities.
Start page
55
End page
73
Volume
1468
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Pediatría Ciencias socio biomédicas (planificación familiar, salud sexual, efectos políticos y sociales de la investigación biomédica)
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85085904491
PubMed ID
Source
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
ISSN of the container
00778923
Sponsor(s)
This work was supported by the New York Academy of Sciences (“Informing the Delivery of Nutrition Interventions for Adolescent Girls and Women”). M.P. received funding from the Old Dart Foundation. The authors also thank the Young Lives teams in Oxford and Peru for granting access to the 2016 data for round 5. We also wish to thank the Young Lives study children and their families for sharing their time and insights, without which this study would not have been possible.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus