Relationship between Parental Physical Activity and Obesity in their Children

Obesity and Parent Relationship
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Obesity and Parent Relationship
Obesity is among the most challenging health issues in the US presently. Every year, the US records a higher number of obesity cases, thereby instilling holistic interventions. Part of the focus presently is geared towards obesity in children and adolescents that is fast increasing. If proper interventions are not implemented, more children could face the challenge of managing illnesses associated with the prevalence of obesity. Parenting is one of the areas that have been explored in an attempt to outline the interventions that could mitigate the prevalence of childhood obesity. Debates are raging on the impacts that parenting behaviors, environment, and genetic factors impact the obesity trends in their children. This paper explores child obesity by addressing the PICOT question: are children (P) born to obese parents without family-based physical activity (PA) programs (I) at increased risks for obese condition (O) compared with those born with the normal condition (C) aged below 18 years) (T)? Developing the links in parental behaviors, including their attitude towards PA, genetics, and their environment should help create an intervention to mitigate obesity among children and adolescents.
Background
Childhood obesity is a serious problem that puts adolescents and children at risk of poor health. Obesity among children and adolescents in the US alone stays high and keeps increasing. CDC reports of the years 2017 and 2018 indicate that 14.4 million children in the US were obese, accounting for 19.3% of the population in that segment. Two to five-year-olds marked a prevalence rate of 13.4%, six to 11-year-olds at 20.3%, and 21.2% among 12 to 19-year-olds. The numbers increase as the children grow older. Childhood obesity is also skewed across different ethnic groups. There was an 8.7% prevalence rate among Asian Americans, 16.1% among non-Hispanic whites, 24.2% among African Americans, and 25.6% among Hispanic children. There are also concerns with parental factors and their impacts on the prevalence of obesity in children. In 2011-2014, it was established that obesity was lower in high-income groups than in low-income individuals. Still, obesity among two to 18-year-olds reduced with the increase in the level of education of the head of the household. In the same period, obesity prevalence was 10.9% among those in the highest income categories, while it stayed at 18.9% among children and adolescents from low-income households (Constant et al., 2020). With multiple factors attributable to the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents, holistic approaches must be undertaken to mitigate the prevalent trends.
Parental Factors
Physical Activity
Physical activity (PA) is one of the proven avenues of reducing body mass that parents could employ to mitigate childhood obesity. In the pediatric and adolescent population, increasing body mass is an escalating concern. According to Sigmund et al. (2018), concerns have been raised on the understanding that a significant percentage of children and adolescent populations do not attain the public health recommendation for PA. This happens even though low PA levels contribute to 5.3 million deaths of children and adolescents annually in the whole world. The World Health Organization (WHO) data indicate that less than 20% of the world’s adolescent population is sufficiently physically active, and as PA decreases, the levels of obesity increase. PA remains the primary modifier of energy expenditure, accounting for about 25% of energy expenditure. After controlling the environmental and genetic factors, it is indicated that a focus on physical activities should elevate inputs in managing the prevalence of obesity. Presently, stakeholders in healthcare are urged to engage children and adolescents in physical activities.
Parents have a primary role when it comes to addressing PA among their children. Brouwer et al. (2018) conducted a study to establish the relationship between parental physical activity and their children’s. All the participants in the study were recruited from the Groningen Expert Center for Kids with Obesity (GECKO) in a cohort of babies born between April 2006 and April 2007. The studies measured the PA in parents and that of their corresponding children. The study paired a total of 623 child-parent pairs. The study’s findings indicated that vigorous maternal PA reflected on the physical health of their daughters and not the sons. However, PA in fathers was predominantly reflected in PA among their sons. The study concluded that higher PA in mothers, including participation in leisure activities, was related to higher PA indices in daughters. In comparison, a higher PA in fathers also reflected a higher PA in sons. Hence, enhancing PA in children could imply focusing PA in parents of the same sex. Emphasis should be put on families with parents having sedentary jobs to imply sedentary behaviors among their children.
There is a link between family-based PA and obesity in children under 18, especially the impact of mother behaviors on the child’s PA and eating habits. For example, regardless of body weight, a woman should walk at least 10,000 steps every day to assist her children in acquiring good habits (Sigmund et al., 2018). This will assist the children and adolescents in achieving their step goals. Although active engagement in physical activity by mothers may not be directly linked to their children’s physical activity, such engagement by children can quadruple or treble their odds of meeting the daily step count recommended for both overweight and normal children. In addition, human behavior theories and models have shown that parents, particularly women, directly impact their children’s conduct. Hence, parents are the gatekeepers of the health of children.
More studies have been conducted on parents’ roles in enhancing physical activity among their children. In a study by Liszewska et al. (2018), it was established that six practices emerge as dominant in motivating PA among children if instigated by parents. The activities included modeling, positive social control, general encouragement for physical activity, stimulation to be active, overall support, and collaborative social control. Parents who encourage their children towards various physical activities stand a higher chance of avoiding obesity among such children. Liszewska et al. (2018) indicated that care must be taken on the time for such interventions as children with low or medium BMI showed better outcomes as opposed to those with high BMI. Put simply, parents can instill different strategies to encourage their children’s participation in physical activities. However, the inputs can be less impactful if introduced after the children have gained a high BMI (Harder, Andersson, & Golsäter, 2019). From the two studies above, parents can influence physical activities among their children in two ways. Primarily, the parents should lead by example and encourage their children’s participation in various PAs. Alternatively, parents can employ positive social control or overall parental support strategies to encourage their children to partici...