Although research indicates foreign-born Mexican-Americans possess a healthy weight advantage relative to U.S.-born Mexican-Americans, patterns are less clear for children and may be changing over time. The objective of this study was to examine whether the relationship between nativity and overweight/obesity has changed over time among Mexican-American children and to investigate the implications of this pattern on overweight/obesity disparities relative to non-Hispanic Whites. Using cross-sectional data from Mexican-Americans and non-Hispanic white children ages 4-17 years participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (1988-1994 (N=4,718) and 2005-2014 (N=7,269), the investigators used log-binomial regression to calculate prevalence ratios (PR) of overweight/obesity by nativity status adjusting for age, sex, householder marital status, householder education, survey period and a nativity by survey period interaction. The investigators also tested another covariate-adjusted model with a 3-level ethnicity-nativity variable that included Whites and an ethnicity-nativity by survey period interaction.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Mexican-Americans and white children who attended the clinical examination in NHANES III and the continuous NHANES

Exclusion Criteria:

• Reported being pregnant

Data came from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), a series of repeated cross-sectional surveys conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The investigators used data from NHANES III (1988-1994) and 5 pooled survey cycles from the continuous NHANES (2005-2014) to represent the two survey periods under study over 20 years apart. These analyses were restricted to Mexican-Americans and non-Hispanic White children aged 4-17 years. Out of the 12,006 Mexican-Americans and white children who attended the clinical examination in NHANES III and the continuous NHANES (2005-2014), those who reported being pregnant were excluded from analyses (N=19). Our final analytic sample included 6,280 Mexican-Americans and 5,707 White children across the two survey periods (2,704 Mexican-Americans and 2,014 White children in 1988-1994; 3,576 Mexican-Americans and 3,693 White children in 2005-2014)