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Child obesity

Child Obesity. Articles Overview Introduction Child obesity has grown into a very seriousproblem. The statistics showed that thirty years ago two times fewer children had this problem in comparison with today’s data. This fact considerably increased the interest of scholars to the given problem. Obesity among children negatively influences their physical and mental health. In order to find the methods to fight obesity, it is important to determine the main factors that influence its level. The given paper presents the overview of three articles, in which the authors considered different sides of the problem with one main purpose that is to find the ways to decrease the level of obesity among children. The article “ Parental Communication Style’s Impact on Children’s Attitudes Toward Obesity and Food Advertising” by Hyunjae (Jay) Yu emphasizes the important role of parenting in the struggle against obesity. The author reminds about obesity level increasing and the effect advertising may have on the level of obesity. Fast-food is actively advertized and children are usually the first who follow this advertising. Here the author points out that the children of 7-12 years old spend much time with their parents, thus parents may have serious impact on children’s attitude towards advertising and, according to Hyunjae (Jay) Yu, this impact should be carefully studied. The main purpose of the research conducted by the author was to study the effect of communication between children and their parents and the effect of advertising on the level of child obesity. The outcomes showed that the communication between parents and children has considerable impact on how children perceive fast-food advertising and their behavior toward it (Hyunjae (Jay) Yu, 2011). The article “ Differences between European Americans and African Americans in the Association between Child Obesity and Disrupted Parenting” by Simons et al also emphasizes the importance of parent’s role. However, the article deals with the issue of how the parents’ impact varies relating the race. The authors investigated the families of European and African Americans. The study showed that the children from African American families suffer from obesity more frequently than children from European American families. The connection between the healthy communication with parents, their care about child’s weight and obesity is inversely proportional for European American families. However, having studied African American families, the authors came to the conclusion that in these families the communication and care about child’s weight did not play a very important role, thus the connection between parents’ care and children’s obesity was not found. According to Simons et al, it may happen primarily because in African American families high weight is not considered to be a serious problem and African Americans pay less attention to it than European Americans. Simultaneously, the authors point out that that the situation has been changing as it can be stated that more and more African Americans start to pay attention to the problem of obesity (Simons et al, 2008). The third article titled “ Child obesity ‘ levelling off’” provides us with more positive information concerning the problem of obesity. It states that recent investigations showed that the forecasts on the level of obesity made for the year 2020 were too pessimistic as for now the number of overweight children is not so high as it was forecasted. Thus, we can hope that the level may drop by 2020. According to Gillian Merron, a health minister, “ Obesity is one of the biggest health challenges we face. There are currently 1. 5 million children and 25 million adults who are overweight or obese, leaving them at increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart and liver disease” (“ Child obesity ‘ levelling off’). Thus, the information provided by the article gives some hope to us. We can see that it is possible to decrease the level of obesity by common interference of parents, teachers and the government. However, it is pointed out in the article that more efforts are needed from the side of the government to improve the quality of food and from the parents’ and teachers’ side to pay enough attention to the problem of obesity and help children overcome it. Conclusion We can see that three articles under consideration address the same problem differently, but come to the same conclusion: the proper interference of parents, teachers and the government can and should decrease the level of child obesity. The task of the government is to improve the food quality by providing restrictions on harmful food production and its advertising. The role of parents is crucial as they can influence the children and their attitude towards fast food as well as their weight. Common efforts should bring and will bring positive results, let’s hope that they will be taken. References Yu, Hyunjae (Jay).(2011). Parental Communication Style’s Impact on Children’s Attitudes Toward Obesity and Food Advertising, The Journal of Consumer Affairs Simons et al.(2008). Differences between European Americans and African Americans in the Association between Child Obesity and Disrupted Parenting, Journal of Comparative Family Studies “ Child obesity ‘ levelling off’”.(2002). Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc.

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