The Role of Parents in Factors that Contribute to Obesity in Children

Abstract

0383 The growing incidence of obesity and its close association with chronic disease and adverse health outcomes presents an enormous challenge to our health care system, and has become a serious public health concern. This study focuses on the contribution of parental factors related to eating behavior and physical activity level (PAL) on the development of childhood obesity. PURPOSE: Specifically, this study was conducted to investigate the influence of parental attitudes on factors contributing to childhood obesity. METHODS: A total of 947 surveys were distributed to parents of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade children from 5 central NY schools. Parents (n = 127) completed the 92-item survey for themselves and the target child (M = 8.7 ± 1.0 yr). Data analyses included descriptive statistics examining parent and child eating behavior, PAL and weight status as well as Pearson and point-biserial correlations, Chi-Square Goodness of Fit and Independent T-tests (a = .05) to examine the relationships between variables. RESULTS: Data showed that 79% of overweight parents had overweight children while 30% of normal weight parents had overweight children. When asked to classify their child's weight status (normal vs. overweight), parents were fairly accurate (88%), however, of the misclassifications (12%), 15 of the 16 parents (94%) classified their overweight child as normal weight. No relationship was found between a child's eating behavior (healthy/unhealthy) and BMI (rpb = −0.06, p = 0.65), however, physical activity level was correlated (r = 0.68, p < .01) to BMI. Examination of children's eating behavior revealed that children's consumption of dairy, carbohydrates and snack food were not related to the child's BMI and that all children ate sweets at higher than recommended levels. CONCLUSION: Overall, results from this study revealed a disconnect between parent attitude toward their child's weight and PAL and the child's actual weight status and energy expenditure. Therefore, even though parents recognize the inadequacies in their child's eating behaviors, children continue to follow unhealthy eating patterns. Results also show a tendency for children to model some of the eating behaviors of their parents suggesting the need for further research in this area.