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Updated: May 28, 2026
09:36
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Optimism and the socioeconomic status gradient in adolescent adiposity
Dhruv Khullar1, Nicolas M Oreskovic, James M Perrin
1Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Summary
Lower dispositional optimism is linked to higher adolescent adiposity. This optimism partially explains how parent education influences adolescent body mass index (BMI) z-scores.
Area of Science:
- Adolescent Health
- Psychological Well-being
- Obesity Research
Background:
- Adiposity in adolescents is a significant public health concern.
- Socioeconomic factors, such as parental education, are known to influence adolescent health outcomes.
- The role of psychological factors, like dispositional optimism, in adolescent adiposity requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between dispositional optimism and adiposity in adolescents.
- To determine if dispositional optimism mediates the relationship between parental education and adolescent adiposity (measured by BMI z-score).
Main Methods:
- Multivariate regression analyses were performed.
- Data were collected from 1,298 non-Hispanic Black and White adolescents aged 12-19 years.
- Participants were recruited from a Midwestern public school district.
Main Results:
- A significant inverse association was found between dispositional optimism and BMI z-scores (r = -.09, p < .001).
- Dispositional optimism partially mediated the relationship between parent education and adolescent BMI z-score, attenuating it by approximately 10%.
- Sobel tests confirmed partial mediation.
Conclusions:
- Lower levels of dispositional optimism are associated with increased adiposity in adolescents.
- Dispositional optimism plays a role in mediating the impact of parental education on adolescent adiposity.
- These findings highlight the importance of psychological factors in understanding and addressing adolescent obesity.
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