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Description
The literature of childhood obesity abatement efforts have focused on individual behavior modifications, but fewer studies focus on environmental-level interventions associated with obesity prevention. Thus, the study aimed to answer the research question: What school and community factors are associated with a reduction in obesity in a school district? Both the Social Ecological Model and Social Cognitive Theory provide the theoretical framework for the current study. The current study focused on the individual schools of Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD). The study outcome was the proportion decrease of obese students between academic years 2010 and 2014. Hypothesis 1 of the study states that each CVESD school would observe a significant change in the proportion of obese students from the study time period of 2010 to 2014. Hypothesis 2 states that CVESD schools with an above average proportion of free meal eligible students were positively associated with the outcome. Finally, Hypothesis 3 states that schools in school attendance zones with an above-average proportion of the population with no high school diploma would be positively associated with the outcome between the two time observations. The primary explanatory variable was the proportion of students in a school who qualify for free meals. Census block group data of the U.S. Census were developed into community factors through spatial analyses. The final sample of schools was N = 40 after an exclusionary process. A series of statistical analyses were performed, including paired sample t-tests. The school and community variables were dichotomized by the mean to perform one-way ANOVAs. A statistically significant change in obesity was observed among CVESD schools between 2010 and 2014 (p < .000). One-way ANOVA revealed that the mean among schools with an above average proportion of free meal eligible students was marginally different from schools with a below average proportion of students (p = .057). The findings show that the school district experienced a significant reduction in obesity during the study time period, however, the degree to which factors were attributed to the reduction remains unclear. A larger sample size of schools is warranted for future research on this topic.
