Introduction
Childhood obesity is actually a condition that is currently a severe public health concern. It is a situation where the excess body fats negatively affect the wellbeing or health of our children. This situation has some effects on health of a child and for that reason it is crucial for parents to take the necessary precautionary measures or else we will not have future generations. These effects include psychological or emotional effects and diseases like high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, sleep problems, heart disease, and other disorders. For that reason, this paper centers on the research proposal for this problem.
Purpose statement
This project purpose is actually to determine effect of the physical activity, environmental/family factors, and dietary patterns on children with the general outcome of obesity. The dependent variable in this case, childhood obesity is determined by the independent variables physical activity, family factors, environmental factors, along with dietary patterns. The most fundamental independent variable in the relationship is the physical activity, since it is the leading cause of this problem. Kids are not getting exercise, which they require to burn high calorie foods, which their parents keep on feeding them.
The insufficient expenditure of calories through the exercise is because of a reduced number of safe playgrounds and increase in video games and television. It is worrying to note that less than one-fifth of elementary children have extracurricular physical activity programs in schools and only around one-third of our children have everyday physical education (Langwith 78). Moreover, children nutritional or diet intakes also a link in grand chain of the obesity in kids bears impact on lives of these unsuspecting children.
Definition of Variables
The model is Y= X1 + X2 + X3.
Where: Y= Childhood Obesity, X1= Physical Activity, X2= Family/Environmental factors, and X3= Dietary Patterns. Therefore,
(Childhood Obesity) = (Physical Activity) + (Family/Environmental factors) + (Dietary Patterns)
Dependent Variable
As stated above, Childhood Obesity (Y) is the dependent variable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in its survey has identified this variable as a serious public health concern. The center reports that in the past thirty years, this variable has more than tripled in adolescents and doubled in children. The center goes further and reports that in 2010, over one third of adolescents and children were obese.
Independent Variables
Physical Activity (X1) is the key independent variable. According to CDC, regular physical activity in both adolescents and children improves endurance and strength, helps control weight, helps build healthy muscles and bones, increases self-esteem, and may improve cholesterol levels and blood pressure. It is defined as percentage of the students who do not meet the recommended levels of the physical activity at least 5 times a week. This variable is directly related to childhood obesity because lack of exercise leads to weight gain, which increases chances for a child to become obese.
The other factors that contribute childhood obesity are family/environmental factors (X2). These independent variables also decide outcome for a kid’s weight. According to Collins, kids whose parents are obese are 25% more likely to suffer from obesity. The main reason for this is the bad eating habits and poor nutrition found in many families. Parents are not concerned with the health of their kids. For instance, parents encourage children to take junk foods and do not encourage them to adopt healthy living styles. Therefore, this greatly contributes to the problem of obesity. The environmental factors that contributed obesity in children include socioeconomic status, easy access to foods that contain high cholesterols or junk food, and social pressure (Currie-McGhee 93). According to the American Obesity Association, lack of the recreational facilities and over-exposure to the advertisements, which promote high calorie foods highly contribute obesity. These independent variables have huge impact on kids and the choices they make hence this form the reason why they are identified as obesity contributors.
The other contributing factor to obesity in children is dietary patterns (X3). The reason why this is an immense contributor is because children are overfed with many foods that are high caloric. It is discouraging to note that despite the increased campaign against high intake of caloric foods, Americans are estimated to be spending over 1 billion US dollars every day on snacks (Collins 4). Schools have fast food stores that sell junk foods to our children and this highly contributes to childhood obesity. Therefore, daily consumption of high caloric foods by children negatively alters their weight and health and this is the reason why dietary patterns are a contributing factor.
Data Description
This research uses thirty observations of cross-sectional statistics for both dependent and independent variables. The source of this data is Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) whose link is http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/overweight/facts.htm. The data from the fact sheets that contain results from the 2011 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and 2006 School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) shows that, Childhood Obesity (Y) is determined by Physical Activity (X1), Family/Environmental factors (X2), and Dietary Patterns
(X3). No limitations are recorded. This data is shown below.
Works Cited
Langwith, Jacqueline. Childhood Obesity. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013
Currie-McGhee, L K. Childhood Obesity. Detroit, MI: Lucent Books, 2012.
Collins, Anne. Why Children and Teens Become Obese or Severely Overweight, 2000-2007.
Retrieved Sep 22, 2010 from http://www.annecollins.com/child-obesity-causes.htm.
American Obesity Association. Childhood Obesity Causes, 2005. Retrieved June 17,
2010 from http://obesity1.tempdomainname.com/subs/childhood/
Juettner, Fernandes B. Childhood Obesity. San Diego, CA: Reference Point Press, 2010.
