ADOLESCENCE & OBESITY

Adolescence, Obesity & Role of Parents

Adolescence, Obesity & Role of Parents

Introduction

Obesity among children and youth, sometimes called overweight, is typically defined as a body mass index (calculated by dividing weight by height squared, and expressed as kg/m2) greater than or equal to the 95th percentile for children of the same age and gender. The prevalence of obesity among children and youth increased rapidly in the United States and other industrialized countries during the period 1970 to 2000. Obesity rates are also rising among children in less industrialized countries and among adults globally. Although the causes of obesity include both genetic and environmental determinants, obesity ultimately results from an excess of energy intake via diet relative to energy expenditure via physical activity. Both energy intake and expenditure can be influenced by individuals and their social and physical environment, and hence are the foci for action to prevent or treat obesity.

Problem Statement

Not just some ordinary obesity but adolescent/childhood obesity to be exact is becoming a more prominent problem in today's society. According to research found on the WedMD website reviewed by the Department of Nutrition Therapy, one out of every five children in the United States is overweight, and this number is continuing to grow. A greater proportion of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight now than ever before (Variyam 18). Childhood obesity is increasing so dramatically that it is reaching epidemic proportions (“Parents Take” 28). However, there is a way to stop this soon to be epidemic in its tracks. The answer to the problem is the ways of parenting.

Epidemiology

Obesity became a leading global public health concern by the end of the 20th century. In the United States, obesity prevalence among adults aged 20 years or older doubled between 1980 and 2002. Among children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years in the United States, obesity prevalence tripled between 1980 and 2002. By 2003 to 2004, an estimated 33.6% of U.S. children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years were at risk of overweight or overweight, including 17.1% who were overweight. Globally, 10% of children were at risk of overweight or overweight by 2002 (Institute of Medicine, 2005)

Research Design

The research will be based on secondary data collection. The data will be extracted from various journals, articles and books.

The criteria of selection for the literature will be relevance to the research topic and the year of publication. Both public and private libraries as well as online libraries will be visited to access the data. Some of the online databases that will be accessed are ebsco, questia, emerald, phoenix and so on.

Keywords

Some of the keywords that will be used to conduct the search are: Obesity, Adolescent, and so on.

Data Analysis

Key Themes Emerged from the Literature

1. Parents are lacking nutritional knowledge

Parental nutrition knowledge is essential for monitoring eating habits in children, identifying high-calorie foods, and understanding the long-term risks of obesity (Variyam 20). Parents lacking the nutritional knowledge are contributing to their child's obesity by, sometimes unknowingly, providing them with ...