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Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, PhD, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, PhD and Sara McLanahan, PhD

Rachel Tolbert Kimbro is with the Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Jeanne Brooks-Gunn is with Teachers College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York City. Sara McLanahan is with the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, PhD, Department of Population Health Sciences, 707 WARF Bldg, 610 N Walnut St, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53726 (e-mail: kimbro{at}wisc.edu).

Objectives. We estimated racial/ethnic differences in overweight and obesity in a national sample of 3-year-olds from urban, low-income families and assessed possible determinants of differences.

Methods. Survey, in-home observation, and interview data were collected at birth, 1 year, and 3 years. We used logistic regression analyses and adjusted for a range of covariates in examining overweight and obesity differentials according to race/ethnicity.

Results. Thirty-five percent of the study children were overweight or obese. Hispanic children were twice as likely as either Black or White children to be overweight or obese. Although we controlled for a wide variety of characteristics, we were unable to explain either White–Hispanic or Black–Hispanic differences in overweight and obesity. However, birthweight, taking a bottle to bed, and mother’s weight status were important predictors of children’s overweight or obesity at age 3 years.

Conclusions. Children’s problems with overweight and obesity begin as early as age 3, and Hispanic children and those with obese mothers are especially at risk.

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