Introduction
Growth of American Middle Class as a catalyst to cases of Childhood Obesity
Obesity has been one of the greatest problems facing the United States today. Many people both young and old continue to die as a result of health complication results from obesity. Many scholars have, like Thomas Friedman has attributed the increased rates of obesity in the United States on the growing culture of consumerism within the American middle class. The continued economic stability within the advanced industrial nations has allowed many lower class people to move to the middle class. This means that the size of the middle class continues to grow over the years.
The growth of the middle class means that a larger segment of the society in the United States and other industrialized nations are able to access basic necessities and at the same time have surplus to consume what they do not need. Increased surplus in society is not a disadvantage to society. In fact, it is the unit of mensuration that many economists have used to calculate social benefits. From a Keynesian economic approach, the continued consumption of goods and services by the domestic population leads to the growth of a country’s economy. This means that the increased demand for domestic demand and expenditure by local population helps realize economic growth.
Culture of Fast Foods
Based on the above discussed elements, the United States and other developed nations have continued to witness negative spillover effects that had not been accounted for during the developing of different economic models. Among some of the key effects of the surplus enjoyed by the domestic population is the ability of population to access fast foods.
Economic surplus within the United States and other developed nations have led to domestic investments of fast food industries. Some of the famous food stores include MacDonald’s and other fast food stores like the Kentucky Fried Chicken. Considering the increased purchasing power of the American middle Class, there are many people who are able to purchase these fast foods. One thing that is worth noting is that the fast foods distributed by these foot industries are manufactured in a way that they attract more customers.
Customer tastes and preferences depend to attributes like the taste of the foods and not the dietary value of these foods. This has led to a situation whereby many consumers have become entirely dependent on these fast foods such that despite having the ability to fix a balance diet at the comfort of their homes, they prefer to continually purchase these fast foods. The over reliance on these foods has led to health complications among many segments of today’s society because the kind of foods that are served in these industries are quickly metabolized into the body( Smith 41).These kinds of foods lead to bodily effects like the increase of body weight. This does not mean that the foods that are served in these stores are not worthy feeding on, but these foods requires to feed on by the segment of the population that has the ability to exercise their bodies so as to make sure that the calories and high cholesterols obtained from these foods are put work. This prevents the body from accumulating fat that might be detrimental to the body. However, the trends that have been evident in recent years shows that many of people who are reliant on fast food in the United States and other industrialized societies do not take time to exercise their bodies so as to keep fit as result of the kind of foods that they subject their bodies to. The continued accumulation of fat in the body is disastrous to the body. The body has levels of fat that are required with the body. Fat within the body us required for the absorption shock and shielding key body organs like the heart.
However, when fat accumulates in the body beyond the required amounts it becomes detrimental. Excess fat within the body has been often known clog key arteries and veins within the body thereby derailing the process of blood flow and other physiological activities. Bearing in mind, that every physiological process within the body serves a given purpose, the failure of a given physiological process leads to fatal health conditions like stroke, heart attack, and sometimes death. Despite all these risks that have been reiterated to the American society and other industrialized societies in the world, a large number of people continue to rely on fast food, which often leads to obesity. It is at the obese stage that the body of the victim because more prone to the health complications outlined above.
Technology
The industrialization of many western nations in the late 18th century was seen as an accomplishment by many economists and the scholarly world. The shift of western nations from agrarian economies to the adoption of industrial led economies was considered as being more progress. Industrial production of goods and services allowed the large scale manufacture of goods and services that could not have been easily achieved through the use of manual labor. As a result of industrialization, the wave of enlightenment, and the innovative ideas of the renaissance period, mankind was able to devise communication and technological advancements that made life easier. Instead of the manual use of farm tools to cultivate food from agrarian lands, new machinery was invented that cut down on manual labor. In the traditional organization of society, children were used to help their families in farm work and other activities that increased the economic wellbeing of their families. However, with the emergence of new technology students no longer need to participate in strenuous chores like the manual tilling of land or mowing of lawns. Instead, contemporary children enjoy the comfort of their homes.
Many of the children are deeply buried into many technological driven commitments that are as result of the new technological advancement. Some of these activities include the playing of computer games, and the reliance on social media. This has created a society whereby contemporary children do not like activities that involve strain. As a result of this, many children would rather play computer games other that move out of the house and work out. Considering that the guardians and parents of these children have a role in the development of these children, parents have failed to take this responsibility(Brontenbrenner 69) In many cases, parents fail to motivate their children and stress to them the advantages that are associated with working out. This culture of children remaining indoors most of day without working out has increased the incidences of child obesity both in the United States and in other parts of the world.
Demanding Economy
The dream of many parents across the world is to ensure that their children get the best quality of life. This means that many parents have taken up more than two jobs to ensure that there is a continued flow of income into the family. As a result of this, many parents lack to time to spend extensive time with their children (Gustafson 95). Their children are left in the watch of either babysitters or house helps who conduct their activities for a pay. This has resulted in a situation whereby parents do not have the ability to monitor the kind of diets consumed by their children, and they are also not able to be involved in helping their children exercise their bodies so as to remain. This has resulted into an increased number of obese children due to the lack of enough parental care and guidance as a result of demanding economies that require a lot of commitment often eating up into time that could be quality family time.
In this case, the question of who to blame for these incidences does not really solve the puzzle. Parents and guardians have to continue working hard if their children are to enjoy a better life. This means that the war against childhood obesity is far from over because many parents especially in the American middle class will continue to toil hard, and spend a lot of time from home in order to make ends meet. On the other hand, their children continue to face the risk of obesity as result of the lack of adequate parental care and guidance. There are a great many different kinds of parenting styles, some of which promote physical activity more than others - maternal permissive parenting can provide more physical activity motivation than an authoritarian parenting style (Jago 45). Other factors that lead to childhood obesity include media depictions of food (including advertisements for fast food), food production and distribution policies that contribute to limited access to healthy foods.
Lack of funds by Low income families
Social norms and cultural attributes in various nations and subcultures also contribute to childhood obesity; in minority and low-income areas, where healthy food is too expensive and inaccessible, and larger body images are much more tolerated, there are much higher instances of childhood obesity (Trost 278). There is substantial socialization that occurs in low-income areas, which are typically inhabited by mostly racial minorities which create implicit endorsement and acceptance of obesity through pervasive fast food cultures and media depictions of acceptable role models who are plus-sized or obese. While these factors are in no way directed solely at minorities, the level to which it occurs is disproportionate. Possible explanations include the de-emphasizing of physical activity in school, easy access to fast food, and affordability of low-income families to purchase more expensive, healthy food (Eisenmann 223).
While there are mixed correlations between physical activity of parents and of children, there is a strong correlation between children's physical activity and the level of parental support they receive for such activities. The level of early maternal employment, for example, largely determines the extent to which children develop proper eating, exercise and behavioral patterns; parents who are not given appropriate leave to care for their children early on can negatively impact their sense of nutrition and physical activity - thereby leading to childhood obesity (Lero, 5). One large correlate exists between parental support and youth physical activity in both indirect and direct ways, making these pursuits more interesting (Trost 281). This makes parental involvement in the physical fitness of their child of extreme importance.
An important factor to determine parental influences is to examine influences of both parental physical activity and parental support; learning exactly how they can affect a child's motivation to perform physical activities can help to determine what actions would be most effective. Trost et al. (282) determined that there is a great connection between the two concepts of parental support and physical activity, but it is still unsure what causes the change in child behavior. The opposite is also true, in that parents can often actively restrict the child's behavior if they perceive a risk to the child's health (Carver et al 1801). Parents who are overprotective of their children often restrict their physical activity and active transport in order to prevent them from incurring harm; however, this also extremely limits their opportunities for active play.
Displacement Theory in the Context of Childhood Obesity
The theory of displacement is an important concept when considering the possible solutions for solving the problem of physical inactivity and inactive lifestyles. This theory posits that time spent in inactive activities displaces time potentially allocated to physical activities and actions pertaining towards a healthy, active lifestyle (Cleland and Venn 221). The overall purpose of initiating interventions such as active play is to decrease the amount of active time 'displaced' by inactive activities, thus creating the potential for increased physical fitness.
Despite the importance of parental involvement as a factor in childhood obesity, the influence of media on children's eating habits must also be considered. The accepted settings, such as many networks that provide children with their favorite show, ease this activity. It is an equally important factor such as family and communal expectations regarding diet and lifestyle. The impact of mass media influences childhood obesity greatly. Media depictions of fast food make that particular lifestyle choice more desirable, and the emphasis on its convenience and deliciousness over healthy food manipulates children into shifting their behaviors to favor unhealthy food and fast food (Eisenmann 223).
Due to the many parts that make up an individual's socialization, it is easy to see how multiple factors contribute to childhood obesity. Societal expectations of working mothers, that are forced to keep working in order to keep their jobs, prevent them from having proper socialization. Increasing lack of emphasis on physical activity prevents children from getting proper exercise. Finally, media depictions of fast food, as well as its easy access and proximity, permit children to gain access to unhealthy food more easily than they can access healthy food. These factors all play into the cause of childhood obesity, and must be addressed in a major way in order to provide more productive discussions and alternatives to prevent childhood obesity.
In conclusion, childhood obesity has become a great problem in the United States and other industrialized nations in the world. Some of the factors that have led to increased case of child obesity in the United States include the culture of fast foods, technology, parental commitment that has resulted in lesser parental guidance, and lack of enough resources to purchase quality diets among low-income families.
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