Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Byrd, Sylvia H.

Committee Member

Fountain, Brent J.

Committee Member

Briley, Chiquita

Date of Degree

5-1-2010

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion

Abstract

Over nine million children 6-17 years old are overweight in the United States. They may face the highest risk ever for overweight, obesity, and associated health problems as adults. This study’s purpose was to evaluate adiposity measurement methods in children by comparing accuracy, cost effectiveness, ease of use, and practicality. IRB approval, parental consent and student assent were obtained. Data were collected by trained employees at six elementary schools on 789 subjects for boys (n= 391) and girls (n=398) 5-11 years old African American children. Hip and waist circumferences, height, and weight were collected. BMI, Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR), and Waist to Height Ratio (WHTR) were calculated. Upon analysis, weight and hip circumference were correlated (r = .94135) and waist circumference was correlated to BMI (r = .92396). The measures of adiposity were highly correlated indicating that a variety of anthropometric measurements can be used for measuring children.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17312

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