Impoverished Schools Contributing To Adolescent Obesity

It was once believed that family income was the biggest factor in determining adolescents' weight, with adolescents living in low-income families more likely to be overweight or obese. A new study from Pennsylvania State University shows that this may not be the case. Rather, they say, the school environment is more important. Children and adolescents who attend an impoverished school are more likely to be overweight or obese than those who attend rich schools, regardless of the parents' education and income. Thus, a parent with a graduate degree and who has a child in a poor school is more likely to raise an overweight adolescent than a parent with an eighth grade education who has an adolescent enrolled in a rich school. Read more about the study and the implications of the findings.