Is Child Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence Essay
1. Introduction
Explain the issue you are examining and why it is significant.
2. Review of the Literature
A description of what has already known about this area and short discussion of why the background studies are not sufficient.
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3. Rationale
A description of the questions you are examining and an exploration of the claims.
4. Method and Design
A description of how you would go about collecting data and test the questions your are examining. Method: How would you collect the data and why? Is Child Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence Essay
Analysis
• How will you analyze the results?
• What kind of results would confirm your hypothesis?
• What kind of results would disconfirm your hypothesis
5. Significance and Conclusion
Discuss, in general, how your proposed research would lead to a significant improvement over the original studies, and how it would benefit the field. (In other words, why should someone care? If you were applying for money to do this, why would someone fund you? If you wanted to publish your results, why would they be interesting?) Is Child Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence Essay
6. References
Include all references in APA style.
Is Child Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence?
- Introduction
Childhood obesity is a growing trend that has become a source of concern since these children may not live as long as their parents (Patel, 2005). That is because obesity is not only a problem for the child’s health, but is also a risk factor for other problems that include suicidal ideation, psychological distress, poor quality of life, low self-esteem, impaired health, and stigmatization. Although incidence of obesity and weight gain have been linked with a range of factors, a distressing aspect is that although some of these factors are outside immediate control (inborn factors that include genetics and hormones), there are those that are within the realm of control to include physical activity and diet. The implication is that although there are some incidence of obesity that cannot be absolutely controlled, there are those that can be controlled by moderating environmental factors in the form of presenting the child with a healthy diet and ensuring that there is adequate physical activity. Given that children are impressionable dependents who are easily influenced by their guardians and careers in whether or not to adopt healthy lifestyles, then it stands to reason that adequate parental supervision with focus on healthy lifestyle (to include a healthy diet and adequate physical activity) will ensure that the child maintains a healthy weight and reduces the incidence of obesity unless inborn factors come into play (Knutson et al., 2009). In this respect, it is hypothesized that sufficient parental supervision with a focus on a healthy diet and adequate physical activity will reduce the incidence of obesity among children. Is Child Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence Essay.
- Review of the Literature
It is undeniable that there is a correlation between parents’ involvement in children’s life and the learning outcomes. In fact, Knutson et al. (2009) mentions that incidence of obesity among children are either resultant of environment or inborn factors. While little control can be exerted over the inborn factors, the same cannot be said about the environmental factors. That is because children are impressionable dependents who are overly reliant on their parents and guardians to direct their every activity from waking, sleeping, eating, dressing, schoolings and so on. This means that every decision that a child makes is actually one that the parent makes and the child lives with. The implication is that parents can guide their children to adopt healthy lifestyles, or neglect the children and allow them to develop unhealthy diet and physical activity habits that result in obesity (Knutson et al., 2009). Rhee et al. (2015) expresses similar sentiments by noting that there is a relationship between general parenting and childhood obesity. In this case, parents who are investment in the emotional and behavioral dimensions of parenting tended to have children with healthy weight since the parent intentionally guided the child on how to achieve a healthy weight (Rhee et al., 2015). Allen and Fost (2012) are more concise in noting that it is not enough for parent to offer advice and guidance to ensure that the children achieve health weights. Rather, the parent must be assertive in determining what the child can eat and how to exercise to achieve health weights. This means that every food request that the child makes must be evaluated weight gain and loss before being accepted into the diet (Haroldson, Cordell & Halderman, 2015). Patel (2005) similarly acknowledges that obesity among children is best managed by having the parents make healthy environmental decisions for the children, their involvement is limited by the reality that children must attend other social events (such as school) that keep them away from their parents. This means that the parents’ involvement may not be far reaching, and may be limited by the realities of work and school that keep the children and parents apart. Also, the article goes on to adopt a radical approach by suggesting obese children should be withdrawn from their parents since the obesity is an indication that the parents failed in offering the child advice on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle despite having the responsibility of offering care and advice (Parent, 2005). Is Child Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence Essay. Based on the discussed literature, it is plausible that parents can be targeted as tools for reducing obesity incidence among children, although their influence could be limited by the modern realities of social engagements that include work and school. As such, there is a need to explore the position that parents can play in reducing the incidence of obesity among children.
- Rationale
As earlier indicated, childhood obesity is a source of concern. That is because it predisposes the child to social and health complications. In fact, Patel (2005) observes that children with obesity are unlikely to live for as long as their parents. As such, there is a need to develop an effective strategy for preventing its incidence. Although there are a range of strategies that could offer some relative success in reducing childhood obesity incidence, parents are explored because of their position in the child’s life. The reality is that children are dependent whose dependency only reduces as they advance in age such that they are only able to become independent upon reaching the age of majority (typically 18 years). This means that a child will depend on the parents to make decisions from birth until the child reaches the age of majority. The implication is that the parents can make decisions on how the child lives his or her life, what food is eaten and whether there is adequate physical activity to achieve health weight. Based on this awareness, the present study postulates that parental negligence will allow the child to develop an unhealthy lifestyle and become obese since there will not be any advice on what constitutes health diet and how to achieve healthy weight. Is Child Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence Essay. In this respect, the present study intends to answer the question: is child obesity a reflection of parental negligence?, while approving or disapproving the hypothesis: Parental negligence increases the incidence of obesity among children.
- Method and Design
This paper proposes the adoption of quantitative research design to conduct the research with the focus being on numerical data. The quantitative research design proposed for this research will involve the use of pre-structured questionnaires as tools for collecting primary data. The questionnaires will evaluate the children’s weight based on body mass index (BMI) criteria and the parenting style applied with focus on whether it is negligent or attentive. The primary data, once collected, will then be subjected to statistical analysis that highlights emerging themes. The results of the statistical analysis will be compared to the literature review. The decision to use a questionnaire is based on the need maintain control over the research process, have flexibility and accuracy, working within the timetable and budget, and collect accurate and definitive data. Questionnaires save on cost and time, have good control and flexibility, but reduce the accuracy and detail of the collected data (Treiman, 2014). A correlation between parental negligence and increased incidence of childhood obesity will answer the research question while confirming the research hypothesis that parental negligence increases the incidence of obesity among children. On the other hand, the absence of a correlation between parental negligence and increased incidence of childhood obesity will answer the research question while disconfirming the research hypothesis that parental negligence increases the incidence of obesity among children. Is Child Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence Essay.
- Significance and Conclusion
The significance of the present study is that it evaluates the position that parental supervision and advice can play in reducing the incidence of obesity among children. This considers the fact that childhood obesity is a source of concern since it is a health risk factor. As such, there is a need to preempt childhood obesity incidence. Additionally, children are impressionable dependents who rely on their parents to guide them. Thus, parents are well positioned to influence their children to adopt healthy lifestyles that preempt them from developing obesity. The implication is that engaging parents to actively implement healthy lifestyle changes for their children could reduce the incidence of childhood obesity. In essence, this project anticipates that parental negligence (failing to introduce healthy lifestyle changes to children) will increase the incidence of childhood obesity with the reverse being equally true. Is Child Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence Essay.
References
Allen, D. & Fost, N. (2012). Obesity and neglect; it’s about the child. The Journal of Pediatrics, 160(6), 898-899.
Haroldson, A., Cordell, Z. & Halderman, L. (2015). Analysis of child food requests and maternal compliance in low-income Hispanic and non-Hispanic families. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 44(1), 37-50.
Knutson, J. F., Taber, S. M., Murray, A. J., Valles, N. & Koeppl, G. (2009). The role of care neglect and supervisory neglect in childhood obesity in a disadvantaged sample. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 35(5), 523-532.
Patel, D. (2005). Super-sized kids: using the law to combat morbid obesity in children. Family Court Review, 43(1), 164-177.
Rhee, K. E., Dickstein, S., Jelalian, E., Boutelle, K., Seifer, R. & Wing, R. (2015). Development of the general parenting observational scale to assess parenting during family meals. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 12(49), 1-15.
Treiman, D. J. (2014). Quantitative data analysis: doing social research to test ideas. Hoboken NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Is Child Obesity a Reflection of Parental Negligence Essay.