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Results: Boys whose mothers had higher prepregnancy weights exhibited higher total BPI and externalizing scores at ages 9–11 years versus those with normal-weight mothers. Boys with severely obese mothers had higher total BPI (mean difference=7.99, 95% CI=3.53, 12.46) and externalizing (mean difference=5.77, 95% CI=1.50, 10.04) scores. Prepregnancy underweight was associated with boys’ higher total BPI (mean difference=2.34, 95% CI=0.02, 4.66) and externalizing (mean difference=3.30, 95% CI=0.69, 5.91); these associations were not significant in sensitivity analyses. No associations emerged for girls or internalizing problems. Two-way interactions by race and three-way interactions by race and gender were not significant.

Results: Trajectories of all the 4 forms of substance use were associated with handgun-carrying trajectories. Specifically, the risk of being in the declining trajectory of handgun carrying (compared with that of being in the very-low trajectory) was higher for participants who were in the decreasing trajectories of smoking, drinking, marijuana use, and hard drug use and lower for those who were in the increasing trajectory of drinking. Inversely, the risks of being in the low and high-increasing trajectories of handgun carrying (compared with that of being in the very-low trajectory) were higher for participants who were in the increasing trajectory of hard drug use.

Methods: Data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, aged 14-21 years in 1979 and followed through 2012 (n=8,289), were analyzed in 2017-18 to estimate hypertension and heart problems onset from lifecourse drinking patterns. Discrete-time survival models stratified by sex and race/ethnicity, controlling for demographics and time-varying factors of employment, smoking, and obesity.

Results: Elevated risks for hypertension were found for women drinking >14 drinks/week regardless of any heavy drinking (AOR=1.57, p=0.023) and for men engaged in risky drinking (15-28 drinks/week) together with monthly heavy drinking (AOR=1.64, p=0.016). Having a history of weekly heavy drinking elevated the risk for women but not for men. No significant relationship was evident for alcohol and heart problems onset.

Methods: The analyses center on 6544 respondents aged 14–21 in 1979 in the National Longitudinal Survey of 1979 that provided information on past-year use of powder cocaine and marijuana use before and after 1990—specifically, in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, and 1998.

Results: Both differential incidence and differential cessation across education contributed to the formation of the socioeconomic disparity in cocaine use, although differential cessation played a more influential role in this cohort. A socioeconomic disparity in marijuana use also came about around the same time. No emerging disparities by race, Hispanic ethnicity, or gender were observed.

Conclusions: This case study suggests that the redefinition of a health behavior as unhealthy will result in a socioeconomic disparity in the behavior across socioeconomic strata as a result of both differential incidence and cessation, but disparities will not necessarily form by race, ethnicity, or gender. [Copyright 2007 Elsevier]

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Methods: This longitudinal prospective follow-up used 718,560 person-years of observation in a pooled data set of 5 high-quality nationally representative panels--National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and 1997, National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, and Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohorts of 1998 and 2011--constructed by the authors, covering 1980-2016. Differences in obesity incidence across birth cohorts and disparities in obesity incidence by sex and race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White) were tested in multivariate models. Data were analyzed from September 2018 to October 2021.

Results: Obesity incidence increased by approximately 6% for each 1 year of age (hazard ratio=1.06, 95% CI=1.05, 1.07); however, incidence was nonlinear, exhibiting an inverted "U"-shaped pattern before 15 years of age and then rising from adolescence through 30 years. Obesity incidence more than doubled between the cohorts born in 1957-1965 and those born in 1974-1985 during adolescence. There was no significant change among those born in 1991-1994 and 2003-2006 up to age 15 years. Compared with non-Hispanic White children, non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children had higher obesity incidence in all study cohorts. The magnitude of these disparities on the relative scale remained stable throughout the study period.

Methods: Data on 6,199 pregnancies from 2,873 women followed from 1979 to 2012 by the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 were analyzed in 2014. Associations between three adversity exposures before age 18 years (history of physical abuse, alcohol problems, or mental illness in the household) and two maternal weight outcomes (prepregnancy obesity and excessive gestational weight gain) were modeled separately using survey-adjusted log-binomial models.

Results: After adjusting for race/ethnicity and early-life socioeconomic factors, childhood physical abuse was associated with a 60% increase in the risk of prepregnancy obesity (adjusted risk ratio=1.6, 95% CI=1.1, 2.2). Household alcohol abuse was associated with a 30% increase in prepregnancy obesity (adjusted risk ratio=1.3, 95% CI=1.0, 1.7), as was household mental illness (adjusted risk ratio=1.3, 95% CI=0.8, 1.9), but the mental illness exposure was not significant. Physical abuse and household alcohol abuse were associated with a significant 20% increase in the risk of excessive gestational weight gain; mental illness was not.

Conclusions: Adversity in early life may affect maternal weight before and during pregnancy. Screening and treating women of reproductive age for childhood adversity and its negative effects could significantly reduce obesity-related health outcomes for women and their children.

Methods: Mother and child data were from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (1980–1998 waves) and Child and Young Adults (1988–2014 waves) cohorts, respectively. Cox proportional hazard models assessed the effect of maternal cannabis use prior to a child's adolescence on the child's risk of subsequent cannabis initiation. Models were stratified by race and child's age category (6–16, 17–24, ≥25 years). Adjusted analyses controlled for sociodemographic variables. Analyses were conducted in 2017.

Results: Median age of cannabis initiation for children of maternal ever users was age 16 years compared with age 18 years among children of maternal never users. Children of 1-year and multiple-year users were at increased risk of cannabis initiation between ages 6 and 16 years (hazard ratio=1.38, p<0.001, and hazard ratio = 1.45, p<0.001, respectively). Effects were slightly stronger among non-Hispanic non-black children.

Methods: Adolescents receiving general or subspecialty care were administered an electronic survey from 2016 to 2018. Data were analyzed in 2023. Using modified Poisson models, cross-sectional associations between past 12-month usage of alcohol, cannabis, and/or nicotine and educational impacts were estimated.

Results: Among 958 adolescents (mean age 16.0 years (SD 1.3), 564 (58.9%) female gender, 445 (46.5%) in subspecialty care), 294 (30.7%), 220 (23.0%), and 126 (13.2%) reported past 12-month use of alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine respectively, while 407 (42.5%) reported ≥1 educational impact, including recent lower grades 210 (21.9%), past 3-month truancy from school 164 (17.1%) or activities 170 (17.7%), and detention 82 (8.6%). Use of cannabis, but not other substances, was associated with negative educational impacts: lower grades (mostly C's/D's/F's), adjusted prevalence ratios [APR, (95%CI)] 1.54 (1.13-2.11); past 3-month truancy from school [2.16 (1.52-3.07)]; detention [2.29 (1.33-3.94)]. The association between cannabis use and any negative educational impact was stronger among adolescents with a chronic illness (P<0.001).

Conclusions: Among adolescents, cannabis use was associated with a heightened risk of negative educational impacts, even after controlling for alcohol and nicotine use. Adolescents with chronic illness were especially likely to experience negative educational impacts. Findings underscore need for preventive interventions and messaging to reduce risks.

Methods: The analysis was conducted in 2022 with data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. The final sample included 36,122 observations on 8,059 respondents as they aged from ages 31-39 years in 1996 to ages 51-59 in 2016. Associations between obesity and financial stressors were estimated with logistic regression models adjusting for a comprehensive set of relevant control variables.

Results: The analysis found significant relationships between obesity and multiple types of financial stressors, including property debt, unsecured debt, and bankruptcy. Property debt and unsecured debt increased the odds of obesity by 29% and 20%, respectively, and bankruptcy increased the odds of obesity by 43%. Average Marginal Effects (AMEs) in combination with model fit statistics confirmed that these stressors--unsecured debt, property debt, and bankruptcy--were important financial correlates of midlife obesity among the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort.

Methods: Individuals with and without incarceration history were identified from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 with follow-up through 2017-2018 (n=7,417). Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the associations between incarceration history and health insurance and coverage changes in the past 12 months. This study also assessed variation in associations by incarceration duration, frequency, and recency and reoffence history. Analysis was conducted in 2022.

Results: Individuals with incarceration history were more likely to be uninsured (AOR=1.69; 95% CI=1.55, 1.85) and to experience year-long uninsurance (AOR=1.34; 95% CI=1.12, 1.59) and were less likely to have stable health insurance coverage (AOR=1.30; 95% CI=1.08, 1.56) than individuals without incarceration history. Longer duration and more frequent incarcerations were associated with a higher likelihood of lack of and unstable insurance coverage and year-long uninsurance.