Running head: CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Childhood Obesity

Name

Institutional Affiliation
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Childhood Obesity

What is Childhood Obesity?

Childhood obesity has become an immense issue in today’s society. But what exactly is

childhood obesity? According to Reilly (2007), obesity is when a person’s body fat content

reaches a point where it can become harmful to their health and way of life. Childhood obesity is

similar, however, this type of obesity deals with children. In today’s society childhood obesity

has increased dramatically.

Prevalence

Children ages 6-19 are very obese. About 17 % of United States children are obese.

Those at a higher risk of becoming obese are the minorities (Chen & Escarce, 2014). For

example, Hispanics had a 36 % higher risk of getting obese while 35 % of black children are at

higher risk. About 18% of school-aged children between 6-11 years old were obese (Vessey,

Candelaria, Feeg & Krenitsky-Korn, 2014).

Its problem

Childhood obesity can negatively impact the cognitive skills of those children who have

this condition (Peeters, Black & Johnston, 2015). These skills include social skills, verbal

reasoning problem solving, emotional stability and motivation. There are two reasons why this

impact may occur. The first, obese children have a greater risk of health problems. For example,

childhood obesity is liked with diabetes, sleep apnea, orthopaedic complications and

hypertension (Black et al., 2015). Having these health problems are said to be associated with

lower scores on cognitive tests and school attainment. These health factors are also linked with

higher absences and can interfere with learning due to stress, discomfort, or exhaustion (Black et
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al., 2015). Additionally, these children are bullied more often due to their weight. This can cause

psychosocial problems that are related to lower cognitive achievement (Black et al., 2015).

a. What is the problem that the article or study is trying to resolve?

The rapid increase in childhood obesity within the United States and around the world.

Therefore, this paper tries to resolves the causes of childhood obesity and highlights the

resources available to families with such children. It also discuss several interventions and

preventions used to decrease the risk of obesity. Through the review of articles, this paper further

analyses what childhood obesity is and its diagnosis, the treatments and interventions provided,

the developmental obstacles related to it, and the support these families may need through this

process.

1. What are the study variables?

Family composition and family environment plays a huge role on whether a child may have a

higher risk for obesity. According to the study done by Chen & Escarce (2014), fifth grade

children who have no siblings face a higher risk of getting obese than their counterparts. It was

said that having more sibling decreased the parent’s time to spend with each child. However,

those children who had siblings, even cousins, supported more physical activity. Chen and

Escarce (2014) also found that siblings promoted more interaction and participation in play

activities. However, by the time the students reached eight-grade race or ethnicity did not affect

the rate at which a child may get obese.

Parenting styles play a vital part on determining whether or not children become obese.

(Lefever, Moore, Braungart-Rieker & Planalp, 2014). Mothers who had negative parental styles

had children who had higher impulsivity. This higher risk of impulsivity may lead to increased
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consumption of food. Those children who had an increase in consumption reported higher BMIs

(Lefever et al., 2014). Mothers who have a difficult time setting boundaries on their children

have a harder time at controlling what types of food their child may eat. These children may have

the inability to control their own impulses when it comes to eating (Lefever et al., 2014).

Family centered meals may be the best thing for obese children (Berge, Rowley, Trofholz,

Hanson, Rueter, MacLehose, & Neumark-Sztainer, 2014). There have been numerous studies

that have tested this idea and found more health benefits associated with having family centered

meals. There has been an important association found between positive family- and parent-level

interpersonal dynamics at family meals (Berge et al., 2014). Families and parents who show

warmth, and positive reinforcement during meals help to reduce the risk of childhood obesity

(Berge et al., 2014). In addition, there has also been a connection between positive family food

related dynamic. For example, families/parents who talk about healthy foods and encourage

positive food reinforcement help reduce the risk of childhood obesity (Berge et al., 2014).

Other research has found that families with good communication, problem-solving skills

have adolescents who have lower BMI scores, higher fruit and vegetable intake, and frequent

family meals (Berge et al., 2014). According to Berge et al (2014), increasing family meals

through training of interpersonal dynamics and food related dynamics at family meals would

help to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity.

Research Methodology, Design, and Analyses

The research is both quantitative and quantitative as findings are expressed in numbers

and perantages as well as tests and confirm theories and assumptions. On the qualitative

apespect, it has been used to understand concepts, thoughts or experiences. The population

studied included adolescents and school going children. The data was collected though
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interviews, questionnares mathematical and statistical analysis.

Conclusion

There is a significant increase in childhood obesity has increased in the past couple of decades.

Many factors have contributed to this issue. It seems that family and the environment seem to

play an important factor on children. However, there are other risk factors that may increase the

children’s risk on getting obese, such as genetics. When a child is obese it not only affects the

child physical health, but also affects their cognitive development and psychosocial factors.

Childhood obesity has brought may different disease to children that were once only seen in

adults. Due to this issue there have been many different types of treatments and prevention plans

that are available to help these children and their families. Many of these plans may not work to

decrease the BMI levels however; it is a start in the right direction. As this issue continues to

grow society has become fully aware of the consequences childhood obesity has to offer. Being

aware and continually bringing awareness on childhood obesity may help to one day prevent this

disease completely.
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References

Black, N., Johnston, D. W., & Peeters, A. (2015). Childhood Obesity and Cognitive

Achievement. Health Economics, 24(9), 1082-1100.

Berge, J. M., Rowley, S., Trofholz, A., Hanson, C., Rueter, M., MacLehose, R. F., & Neumark-

Sztainer, D. (2014). Childhood obesity and interpersonal dynamics during family

meals. Pediatrics, peds-2014.

Braungart-Rieker, J. M., Moore, E. S., Planalp, E. M., & Lefever, J. B. (2014). Psychosocial

pathways to childhood obesity: A pilot study involving a high-risk preschool

sample. Eating behaviors, 15(4), 528-531.

Chen, A. Y., & Escarce, J. J. (2014). Family structure and childhood obesity: an analysis through

8th grade. Maternal and child health journal, 18(7), 1772-1777.

Ebbeling, C. B., Pawlak, D. B., & Ludwig, D. S. (2002). Childhood obesity: public-health crisis,

common sense cure. The lancet, 360(9331), 473-482.

Feeg, V. D., Candelaria, L. M., Krenitsky-Korn, S., & Vessey, J. A. (2014). The Relationship of

Obesity and Weight Gain to Childhood Teasing. Journal of pediatric nursing, 29(6), 511-

520.

Reilly, J. J. (2007). Childhood Obesity: An Overview. Children & Society, 21(5), 390-396.