Jinyoung Jang, Young Gyu Cho, Jae-Heon Kang, Hyun Ah Park, Kyoungwoo Kim, Yang-Im Hur, Ki Byeong Park

Department of Family Medicine, Seoul Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea


Background: The influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on weight status varies depending on the countries' levels of social and economic development. There are many studies on a risk of adolescent obesity according to familial SES in Korea. However, it is not clarified what effects familial SES has on a risk of underweight in Korean adolescents. This study investigated the distribution of weight status including obesity and underweight according to familial SES in Korean adolescents.
Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 63,741 adolescents who participated in the 2016 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Wed-based Survey. The data on height, weight, familial SES, current smoking status, current al￾cohol intake, physical activity, breakfast skipping, perceived stress, depressive mood, and living with family were obtained through online questionnaires. The assessment of familial SES was based on perceived house￾hold economic status and parental education level.
Results: In boys, low household economic status was related to a high proportion of obesity (odds ratio [OR] 1.14, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-1.25) and underweight (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.14-1.51). Girls with low household economic status were more likely to be obese (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.61-2.03) and overweight (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.23-1.60) but, although not statistically significant, less likely to be underweight (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.75-1.04).
Conclusions: This study showed that adolescents with low familial SES were at a high risk of obesity and underweight. A risk of underweight was increased in boys with low familial SES but in girls with high familial SES.
Korean J Health Promot 2018;18(1):23-31

Keywords: Obesity, Thinness, Social class, Adolescent