The Future of Children correlates causes of obesity to calorie intake to lack of calorie expenditure by reviewing research on energy intake, energy expenditure, and energy balance. Youth who consume ‘empty calories’ and work off fewer calories through physical exertion are more likely have obese tendencies than other children. Anderson & Butcher (2006) suggest that fast food and snacking is a likely participating factor in obesity.
Individuals who partake in fast-food have higher energy intake with lower nutritional values than those who do not eat fast food. Anderson & Butcher (2006) also suggest the outbreak in childhood obesity started between 1980 and 1988 when children had multiple environmental changes. Environmental changes effecting obesity between this time period consisted of calorie-dense convenience goods and soft drinks becoming available to children at school and increased advertising directed toward children.
Also, children of this era consumed more soda pop and pre-prepared foods. At the same time, child activity dropped due to the convenience of transportation and the privilege of television, computers, and video games, which is in accordance with Cecil-Karb & Grogan-Kaylor (2009). Anderson & Butcher (2006) used many long term studies with children aged between eight to twelve year olds. The participants were both male and female. This study is important to parents and youth because it identifies where obesity stems from and how it can be avoided.
Abstract The increase in childhood obesity over the past several decades, together with the associated health problems and costs, is raising grave concern among health care professionals, policy experts, children’s advocates, and parents. Patricia Anderson and Kristin Butcher document trends in children’s obesity and examine the possible underlying causes of the obesity epidemic. They begin by reviewing research on energy intake, energy expenditure, and “energy balance,” noting that children who eat more “empty calories” and expend fewer calories through physical activity are more likely to be obese than other children.
Next they ask what has changed in children’s environment over the past three decades to upset this energy balance equation. In particular, they examine changes in the food market, in the built environment, in schools and child care settings, and in the role of parents–paying attention to the timing of these changes. 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 and Butcher find no one factor that has led to increases in children’s obesity.
Rather, many complementary changes have simultaneously increased children’s energy intake and decreased their energy expenditure. The challenge in formulating policies to address children’s obesity is to learn how best to change the environment that affects children’s energy balance. Cecil-Karb & Gorgan-Kaylor (2009), like Anderson & Butcher (2006), found there was a correlation between environment and childhood obesity. Cecil-Karb & Gorgan-Kaylor (2009) were seeking the environmental variables that have an effect on childhood obesity.
They found that stressful neighborhood conditions, such as crime and disorder, can negatively affect the health of children whereas the availability of supportive social relationships and collective efficacy can facilitate healthy behaviors. This means that interactions of a child’s microsystem and mesosystem can directly affect their chances of being obese.
According to Cecil-Karb & Grogan Kaylor (2009), children who live in unsafe neighborhoods face barriers that limit their physical activity. This study is in accordance with Hampson et al. (2007) and the correlation between low activity levels and increased chances of being overweight. This study consisted of children and their parents in a national longitudinal survey. Men and women participated in this experiment. Data was collected in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000. The age limit was limited to ages five through 20. Independent variables included children’s gender and race, mother’s education, and family income. The importance of this study is that it shows how children who are overweight and obese are on the rise, and will have serious health risks.
This information is relevant to children, parents, and society. This study helps show the importance of understanding the environmental conditions that structure health behaviors. Abstract The United States is currently experiencing an epidemic of children who are overweight or obese. Recently, research on child obesity has begun to examine the relationship between neighborhood environments and the health behaviors of youths. The current study used growth curve analysis based on multilevel modeling to examine the relationship between parents’ perceptions of neighborhood safety and children’s body mass index (BMI).
Parents’ perceptions of neighborhood safety had a significant association with children’s BMI, and this relationship was fully mediated by television viewing. The results of this study suggest that when parents perceive their neighborhood to be unsafe, they will restrict their children’s outdoor activities and increase the likelihood of sedentary indoor activity. Policies aimed at reducing overweight and obesity in children should take into account the neighborhood contexts in which children live. The author used 15 elementary schools in one school district and found results supporting the hypothesized cognitive-behavioral mechanism influencing obesity in children. The study was done with a different racial and ethnic composition.
The mean age of the participants in this study was nine years old. This study shows that children, who value social image, are more likely to exercise and less likely to become relatively obese. Children who exercised or were physically engaged in activities were less likely to be overweight. Children who characterized themselves as less athletic overtime had a higher rate of obesity. Children who establish and maintain healthy activity levels early on will have high chances of preventing the development of obesity.
Youth obesity is a process established as early as the elementary school years when children are developing their beliefs about healthy behaviors. As shown by Hampson et al. (2007), youth obesity is a process established as early as the elementary school years when children are developing their beliefs about healthy behaviors. In accordance with this study is the article by Anderson & Butcher (2006). This study is important to parents, teachers, and youth. The importance of this study is for the prevention of developing obesity in youth.
Abstract Background: Increasing levels of youth obesity constitute a threat to the nation’s health, and identification of the influences during childhood that lead to youth obesity is urgently needed. Physical activity is one such influence that is potentially modifiable. Purpose: This study examined the influence of children’s social images of other children who engage in physical activity on the development of their own physical activity over 3 years and related growth in physical activity to levels of obesity 2 years later.
Methods: Participants (N = 846, 50% female) were members of the Oregon Youth Substance Use Project, a longitudinal study of a community sample. The racial/ethnic composition of the sample was 86% Caucasian; 7% Hispanic; 1% Black; and approximately 2% each of Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian, or Alaskan Native, and other or mixed race/ethnicity. The mean age at the first assessment was 9. 5 years. A model examining the effect of early social images on the growth of physical activity (athleticism modeled as a curve of factors) predicting obesity was evaluated using latent growth modeling.
Results: More favorable social images predicted the initial levels (i. e. , intercept) but not the change over time (i. e. , slope) of children’s athleticism, and both the intercept and the slope of athleticism predicted obesity. Conclusions: Children’s social images of exercise in early childhood influence their subsequent activity levels, and hence obesity, and should be targeted in obesity prevention interventions. Eating behaviors of children in the context of their family environment.
In their results they conclude the finding that parental obesity, maternal obesity in particular, increases a child’s risk for developing obesity suggests that either shared genes, or environment, or likely a combination of both may promote overeating and excessive weight gain in children. Karl & Rauh (2010) also imply that parents create a food environment for their children, which is then adapted as their own eating behaviors.
In addition, Karl & Rauh (2010) study how genetic and environmental factors play into child obesity. The purpose of this article was to demonstrate the role of familial predispositions and early influences in the home environment as it applies to food preference eating behaviors. Their study also consists of studying eating behaviors and appetite avidity. Familial predispositions to obesity, which are in part mediated through specific eating traits and food preferences, can be modified by parental behaviors (e. g. , modeling, child feeding behaviors) and the home environment (e. g. , accessibility to healthy foods).
This suggests that environment changes and poor family habits are more likely to cause of obesity than genetics alone. This study also suggests that environment changes and poor family habits are more likely the cause of obesity rather than genetics alone, which correlates and supports results found by Anderson & Butcher (2006), and Cecil-Karb & Grogan-Kaylor (2009). This study is important for parents, youth, and society. It is important because it shows that efforts to increase healthy eating while moderating energy can be mediated through modeling good parental behaviors. Participant ages and gender was not discussed in the article.
