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Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Does adolescent weight status predict problematic substance use patterns?
H Isabella Lanza1, Christine E Grella2, Paul J Chung3
1Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. hilanza@ucla.edu.
Objectives:
To identify underlying patterns of cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and marijuana use in young adulthood, and ascertain whether adolescent overweight or obesity status predicts problematic substance use patterns.
Methods:
The study included 15,119 participants from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) at Wave 1 (11-19 years) and Wave 3 (18-26 years). Latent class analysis was conducted.
Results:
Participants were classified into a Low Substance Use (35%), Regular Smokers (12%), High-risk Alcohol use (33%), or High Substance Use (20%) class. Overweight/obese adolescents had a greater likelihood of belonging to the Regular Smokers class.
Conclusions:
Overweight/obese adolescents are at higher risk of engaging in regular cigarette smoking without problematic alcohol or marijuana use.
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