Childhood Obesity Is a Major

Childhood Obesity

Obesity is a major health problem in America today, and being overweight is a problem that often begins in childhood. Childhood obesity is both a problem in itself, creating health problems that may last for a lifetime, including many that may not be manifested until adulthood; and also a precursor for obesity in adulthood, a time of life when obesity can have even greater health problems. Among the problems associated with obesity are diabetes, cardiovascular problems, and cancer. In addition, childhood obesity has social consequences which can mark a child for life and which often isolate the child from his or her peers.

This is not a new problem, though concern about it has increased in recent years with growing evidence of the harmful health consequences of obesity in childhood. A number of studies have been conducted of both health and social consequences for childhood obesity. Jarvie et al. (1983) dealt with a slightly older age group, examining the impact of childhood obesity and social stigma. They determined that childhood obesity did indeed carry social stigma that was supported by the evidence of the available literature, which indicated that childhood obesity led to a lesser social position characterized by fewer friends, less social respect and approval from childhood peers, and greater expectation on the part of the obese children of social rejection and disapproval.

Berscheid and Walster (1972) reviewed the ways in which attractive children differed socially from unattractive children (including the obese children). The children were represented by photographs from relatively homogeneous socioeconomic samples. The determination of attractiveness or unattractiveness was a subjective judgment made by the adult respondents. The specific criteria used by these adults was not identified, though the researchers guessed that it might be a perception of health. Unattractive children were impacted at several levels, including differential approval and care from family and teachers. The researchers indicated that as unattractive children got older they were less and less liked by their peers. In addition, teachers evaluated attractive children as more intelligent, more likely to be successful, more likely to be loved by their parents, and more likely to be popular with their peers. Outside observers rated unattractive children as being characteristically more dishonest, and rated their misbehavior in class as more serious than that of their unattractive peers.

In spite of the growing awareness of such issues and of the health problems associated with obesity, childhood obesity has increased.

Anderson and Butcher (2006) note this and the fact that this growth has been accompanied by rising health care costs for the problems created. They state that children who expend fewer calories than they ingest are mote likely to be obese than children who expend calories in physical activity. They consider what has changed that has also changed the way children eat and behave and consider such elements as changes in the food market, in the environment, in the schools, and in child care settings. They also consider the role played by parents and how many are not seeing to it that their children eat right and engage in more physical activity. The authors note,

Among the changes that affect children's energy intake are the increasing availability of energy-dense, high-calorie foods and drinks through schools. Changes in the family, particularly an increase in dual-career or single-parent working families, may also have increased demand for food away from home or pre-prepared foods. A host of factors have also contributed to reductions in energy expenditure. In particular, children today seem less likely to walk to school and to be traveling more in cars than they were during the early 1970s, perhaps because of changes in the built environment. Finally, children spend more time viewing television and using computers (Anderson & Butcher, 2006, para. 3).

They find that no one factor explains the increasing number of obese children but that many changes taking place at the same time have contributed to the problem.

Lindsay et al. (2006) give particular emphasis to the role of parents in the issue for both the development of childhood obesity and obesity prevention. They note first that "parents can help their children develop and maintain healthful eating and physical activity habits, thereby ultimately helping prevent childhood overweight and obesity" (Lindsay et al., 2006, para. 2). Because the role of parents is critical, any problem to address the problem of childhood obesity has to include the parents in an effective manner. Parental influence on the problem differs at different ages of the children, and for some, the problem can begin in infancy: "An unfavorable intrauterine environment, for example, can increase a fetus's future risk of developing adult metabolic abnormalities, including obesity, hypertension, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus" (Lindsay et al., 2006, para. 7).

A more common caused develops in childhood as a result of the ingestion of too much refined sugar and carbohydrates I the form of candy, sugary cereals, potato chips, and other snack foods, or excessive fat in the form of fast food items. Parents can be at fault in this as well if they do not develop a home environment that fosters more healthful eating and that encourages physical activity for children: "Parents' knowledge of nutrition; their influence over food selection, meal structure, and home eating patterns; their modeling of healthful eating practices; their levels of physical activity; and their modeling of sedentary habits including television viewing are all influential in their children's development of lifelong habits that contribute to normal weight or to overweight and obesity" (Lindsay et al., 2006, para. 8).