Abstract
The main purpose of the current article is to introduce a framework of the complexity of childhood obesity based on the family environment. A conceptual model that quantifies the relationships and interactions among parental socioeconomic status, family food security level, child’s food intake and certain aspects of parental feeding behaviour is presented using the structural equation modeling (SEM) concept. Structural models are analysed in terms of the direct and indirect connections among latent and measurement variables that lead to the child weight indicator. To illustrate the accuracy, fit, reliability and validity of the introduced framework, real data collected from 630 families from Urumqi (Xinjiang, China) were considered. The framework includes two categories of data comprising the normal body mass index (BMI) range and obesity data. The comparison analysis between two models provides some evidence that in obesity modeling, obesity data must be extracted from the dataset and analysis must be done separately from the normal BMI range. This study may be helpful for researchers interested in childhood obesity modeling based on family environment.
Highlights
As the largest developing country around the world in the past two decades, China has witnessed a rapid increase in childhood obesity rates along with the fast economic growth [1]
To better understand the impact of putative factors on childhood obesity, we examine the relationship among child technology use, the child’s average amount of sleep, the child’s school grade, the child’s physical activity and the parents’ physical activity, and the child’s weight
The introduced model was designed according to improvements on previous theories and frameworks of childhood obesity modeling based on family environment [21,33]
Summary
As the largest developing country around the world in the past two decades, China has witnessed a rapid increase in childhood obesity rates along with the fast economic growth [1]. Vinturache et al [6] and Baek et al [7], for instance, believe that obesity has emerged as one of the most substantial public health concerns in the last two decades. It is identified as a severe threat to society due to its rapidly expanding prevalence. Focus should be geared toward preventive efforts against childhood obesity, as problems with a child’s body status are mostly caused by unusual weight gain
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