Neighborhood Environment and Body Mass Index Trajectories from Adolescence to Adulthood

Objectives: To investigate whether neighborhood conditions during adolescence are associated with body mass index (BMI) extending into young adulthood.

Methods: Latent growth curve modeling was used to examine BMI over three waves (1996, 2001, and 2008) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 9,115).

Results: Parental perceptions of neighborhood disorder and neighborhood structural disadvantage were positively associated with BMI at baseline. Although parental perceptions of disorder were not associated with the rate of change in BMI over time, neighborhood structural disadvantage was positively associated with the slope of BMI. Adolescents who lived in more disadvantaged neighborhoods not only had higher BMI at the beginning of the study, but they also gained weight at a faster rate than those who lived in more advantaged neighborhoods at the first wave of data collection. The data also revealed notable gender, racial, and ethnic subgroup variations in the relationship between neighborhood context and BMI.

Conclusion: The neighborhood environment during the critical period of adolescence appears to have a long-term effect on BMI in adulthood. Policy interventions focusing on the neighborhood environment may have far-reaching effects on adult health.