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Updated: Apr 4, 2026

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Relations Between Baseline and Nonlinear Longitudinal Changes in Children's Body Mass Index and Internalizing
Rachel Tillery1, Kristoffer S Berlin2, Gabrielle G Banks3
1Psychology Department, The University of Memphis and rachel.n.tillery@gmail.com.
Objective:
To determine whether initial body mass index for age (zBMI) and internalizing symptoms predict longitudinal changes in zBMI and internalizing symptoms-and the extent to which sex and race moderate these relations.
Methods:
Participants included 12,674 (51% male) youth from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class 1998-1999. Data were collected in kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 8th grades. Teacher-reported internalizing symptoms were measured with the Social Rating Scale.
Results:
Internalizing symptoms followed a quadratic growth trajectory, with initial low levels of symptoms that gradually increased over time and eventually leveled. zBMI followed a piecewise growth trajectory, with a transition in slope at 1st grade. Interactions emerged between zBMI and internalizing symptoms for White males.
Conclusions:
Associations between internalizing symptoms and BMI begin in early childhood for White males, and changes in zBMI are a function of the interactive effect of initial levels of internalizing difficulties and adiposity status.
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