Individual and social determinants of multiple chronic disease behavioral risk factors among youth

BMC Public Health

Table 1 Comparison of baseline characteristics of children in the study cohort and of subjects lost to follow-up or excluded because of incomplete data, National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, 2000-2005

	Study cohort, %^a	Subjects lost, %^a	pvalue^b
	(n = 1135)	(n = 946)
Individual characteristics
Ultimate
Sex			.03
Female	51	46
Age, years			.26
10	50	53
11	50	47
Anxiety, mean (SE)^c	3.4 (0.1)	3.7 (0.1)	.02
Distal
Self-esteem, mean (SE)^d	13.7 (0.1)	13.3 (0.1)	<.001
Academic performance			.56
Poor/very poor	2	1
Average	18	19
Well	46	46
Very well	34	34
Social characteristics
Ultimate
Family structure			.005
2 parents	84	79
1 parent	16	21
PMK Education			<.001
Low (< 12 years of school)	19	28
High (≥12 years of school)	81	73
Annual household income, CAN $			<.001
< 30,000	15	21
30,000-59,999	31	40
60,000-89,999	31	23
≥ 90,000	23	16
Distal
PMK smoking status			.03
Tobacco smoker	26	30
PMK drinking status			.61
Alcohol drinker	28	27
Parent-child relationship, mean (SE)^e	22.9 (0.2)	22.3 (0.2)	.005
Peer smoking			.94
No peers	95	96
A few peers	4	3
Most/all peers	1	1
Peer drinking			.05
No peers	97	95
A few peers	2	4
Most/all peers	1	1
Peer-child relationship, mean (SE)^f	12.8 (0.1)	12.8 (0.1)	.86
Lifestyle risk factors
Physical inactivity^g	50	54	.09
Sedentary behavior^h	42	46	.11
Ever smokingⁱ	6	7	.60
Ever drinking^j	6	10	.005
High body mass index^k	23	29	.004

CAN = Canadian; PMK = person most knowledgeable; SE = standard error.
^a Weighted percentage expressed in terms of the proportion of Canadian children aged 10-11 years in Cycle 4 and followed biennially until Cycle 6 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth.
^b p value from a chi-squared test or t test.
^c Anxiety was assessed using a global score ranging from 0 to 14, with higher scores indicating the presence of greater anxiety.
^d Self-esteem was assessed using a global score ranging from 0 to 16, with higher scores indicating positive self-esteem.
^e The parent-child relationship was assessed using a global score ranging from 0 to 28, with higher scores indicating a better relationship between parents and child.
^f Peer-child relationships were assessed using a global score ranging from 0 to 16, with higher scores indicating a better relationship between the child and his/her peers.
^g Engaging in organized/unorganized physical activities fewer than 4 times per week.
^h Watching television or videos for more than 2 hours per day.
ⁱ Ever smoking a cigarette, even a few puffs.
^j Ever having a standard drink of alcohol.
^k Being overweight/obese, as defined by cutoff points of Cole and colleagues [54].

ISSN: 1471-2458