Social and Economic Consequences of Overweight in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

TLDR: Overweight during adolescence has important social and economic consequences, which are greater than those of many other chronic physical conditions and discrimination against overweight persons may account for these results.

Abstract: Background and Methods Overweight in adolescents may have deleterious effects on their subsequent self-esteem, social and economic characteristics, and physical health. We studied the relation between overweight and subsequent educational attainment, marital status, household income, and self-esteem in a nationally representative sample of 10,039 randomly selected young people who were 16 to 24 years old in 1981. Follow-up data were obtained in 1988 for 65 to 79 percent of the original cohort, depending on the variable studied. The characteristics of the subjects who had been overweight in 1981 were compared with those for young people with asthma, musculoskeletal abnormalities, and other chronic health conditions. Overweight was defined as a body-mass index above the 95th percentile for age and sex. Results In 1981, 370 of the subjects were overweight. Seven years later, women who had been overweight had completed fewer years of school (0.3 year less; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.1 to 0.6; P = 0.009...

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Social and Economic Consequences of Overweight
in Adolescence and Young Adulthood
Citation
Gortmaker, Steven L., Aviva Must, James M. Perrin, Arthur M. Sobol, and William H. Dietz. 1993.
Social and Economic Consequences of Overweight in Adolescence and Young Adulthood. New
England Journal of Medicine 329, no. 14: 1008–1012. doi:10.1056/nejm199309303291406.
Published Version
doi:10.1056/NEJM199309303291406
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http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:30207981
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The New England Journal of Medicine
Downloaded from nejm.org on January 20, 2017. For personal use only. No other uses without permission.
Copyright © 1993 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.

The New England Journal of Medicine
Downloaded from nejm.org on January 20, 2017. For personal use only. No other uses without permission.
Copyright © 1993 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.

The New England Journal of Medicine
Downloaded from nejm.org on January 20, 2017. For personal use only. No other uses without permission.
Copyright © 1993 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.

The New England Journal of Medicine
Downloaded from nejm.org on January 20, 2017. For personal use only. No other uses without permission.
Copyright © 1993 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.