ResearchReviewFamily Environment and Pediatric Overweight: What Is a Parent to Do?
Section snippets
Focus of current research
Inherent problems of research design have sometimes made it difficult to determine the modifiable risk factors that predispose youth to overweight. Cross-sectional studies are limited by their inability to determine causal direction. For example, because excess body fat presents physical, social, and behavioral barriers that may limit participation in physical activities, children may become inactive as a result of their weight. Similarly, children who are overweight may make dietary
WHat is a parent to do? Parental reinforcement and restriction
Environmental conditions that promote energy intake and minimize energy expenditure have been major factors contributing to the increasing obesity epidemic (65). Because parents are responsible for the physical and social environments of young children, they are indisputably the first line of prevention for youth overweight. Research about parental reinforcement and restriction of food and physical activity has revealed that parents must walk a “fine line” when trying to promote healthful
Recommendations
The nature of society has changed considerably in the past 20 years, and these changes have dramatically influenced the ways in which people live, eat, and play. Children are now more likely to have single parents or two working parents, either or both of whom may have multiple jobs (75). Time constraints make it harder for parents to provide healthful snacks and meals at home. Studies have demonstrated that over the past 20 to 30 years, the percentage of meals and snacks eaten away from home
Role of health care professionals
Health care professionals have regular interactions with parents and children and, therefore, are in an ideal position to discuss measures that may decrease the likelihood of the development of obesity. Recent recommendations from the Institute of Medicine report on preventing pediatric obesity include specific health care recommendations, which are incorporated into the list that follows (86). It is important to note that even without evidence-based proof of efficacy, recommendations that have
Future directions
Families represent a crucial environmental influence in the development and maintenance of healthful eating and physical activity habits among children. Health care professionals should inform, encourage, and support parental efforts to promote healthful habits among all children and thereby prevent pediatric overweight. To this end, providers who work with families need to be aware of the key dietary, activity, and parenting behaviors that are most likely to be successful in preventing weight
L. D. Ritchie is an associate researcher, Center for Weight and Health, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley.
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Cited by (150)
HomeStyles-2: Randomized controlled trial protocol for a web-based obesity prevention program for families with children in middle childhood
2022, Contemporary Clinical TrialsCitation Excerpt :To generate the most successful results, obesity prevention interventions need to address multiple environment and lifestyle practices associated with weight status [1,83–87]. Thus, HomeStyles-2 takes a multi-faceted approach because poor diet, physical inactivity, and inadequate sleep increase childhood obesity risk, and the most successful outcomes are likely to be generated by addressing these multiple lifestyle practices [83–85,88]. Additionally, HomeStyles-2 is congruent with obesity prevention recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, White House Task Force, Healthy People 2030 goals, Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020–2025, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) and Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) guidance [1,22,89–96].
Codevelopment of Healthy and Unhealthy Dietary Behaviors: A Dyadic Examination of Parenting Practices and Adolescent Characteristics
2021, Journal of Nutrition Education and BehaviorRationale, design and study protocol of the ‘Strong Families Start at Home’ feasibility trial to improve the diet quality of low-income, ethnically diverse children by helping parents improve their feeding and food preparation practices
2020, Contemporary Clinical Trials CommunicationsCitation Excerpt :Thus, there is an urgent need to improve diet quality especially among low-income and ethnic/racial minority children. Parents play an important role in shaping children's dietary preferences. [39–43] The consumption of foods outside the home [44–46], unhealthy foods available in the home [47,48], and lack of home-prepared meals [49–51], are related to suboptimal child diet quality.
Parenting Advice School-Age Kids Offer to Parents to Promote Healthier Child Weight-Related Behaviors
2020, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior
L. D. Ritchie is an associate researcher, Center for Weight and Health, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley.
D. E. Gerstein is an associate specialist, Center for Weight and Health, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley.
P. B. Crawford is codirector, Center for Weight and Health, College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley. P. B. Crawford is also Cooperative Extension Nutrition Specialist and Lecturer, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California, Berkeley.
G. Welk is an assistant professor, Department of Health and Human Performance, Iowa State University, Ames.
D. Styne is Rumsey Chair of Pediatric Endocrinology, professor of Pediatrics, University of California, Davis, Sacramento.