Introduction
The prevalence rate of cases of childhood obesity has been marked by a global increase. Obesity is a danger to children’s health. It can cause in children and teenagers such problems as stigmatization, impaired health, negative self-perception, deprived quality of life, mental stress, and suicidal ideation (Adams & Bukowski, 2008).
Hereditary and hormonal conditions can prompt some children to obesity. However, there are other factors, including diet and physical activity, that play a significant part in determining the health of the child. The rise in the rate of obesity is evidence of the impact of environmental elements on the weight of children.
The problem
Child obesity is becoming an epidemic, especially in developed countries. The epidemic is particularly disturbing and raises philosophical and political queries regarding parental liberty and autonomy and their resulting harm on the health of a child. Researchers have concluded that neglect and sexual abuse are closely related to an increased risk of obesity in children and young adults.
Although describing the family environment as a potential source of obesity, few studies have conducted a comparison of the conditions. Since neglect has been previously associated with the high prevalence rate of childhood obesity, it is suggested that an increase in neglect will be a central factor for consideration in the effort to address childhood obesity.
Purpose of the study
The proposed study is aimed at establishing the influence of neglect on the part of the parents to childhood obesity. This will help bring to a light connection between the family environment and the prevalence of childhood obesity. This will facilitate demystifying the contribution of various parenting aspects to the spread of this epidemic. The study will not concentrate on other contributors to childhood obesity, such as heredity factors and genetics. It will be centered on parental neglect.
Variables of interest
Children, particularly young ones and infants, cannot be regarded as responsible for decisions about their lifestyle that can lead to far-reaching consequences on future psychological, mental, and physical health. The key independent variable of interest in this study will be parental and the functioning domain. The dependent variable will be childhood obesity, including weight position, dietary consumption, home environment, and physical activity.
Hypothesis and experimental design
Supervisory and care neglect is conceptualized in this study as the basis of childhood obesity. The parents in this situation lack the awareness of the children’s activities and the willingness to provide recommended health care. The parent is not knowledgeable of the personal preferences of the child and their engagement in risky health behaviors, including the diet that contributes to obesity.
Supervisory negligence contributes to the obesity of the child when the parent fails to guarantee the provision of a suitable diet and health care. The study conducted by Whitaker indicated that parental neglect contributed to preschool childhood obesity. Other similar researches indicate that the impact of parental negligence may be deferred in school-age children. Considering both views, it is possible that the effect of both care and supervisory neglect will be parameters of the age of the child.
This is particularly the case if the age difference displays significant differences in growth and extra-familial influences. Therefore, the examination of the connections between care or supervisory neglect and childhood obesity is essential in considering the restraining effect of a child’s age. This is specifically imperative when the samples reflect phases of fundamental growth variations (Whitaker, 2007).
This study will be planned for the examination of care and supervisory neglect impact on childhood obesity. Considering that neglect and obesity are aggravated by poverty, the home environment and access limitation to means of livelihood, the study will examine the connection between the two types of neglect and obesity within a sample of advantaged and disadvantaged households to draw a comparison for the prevalence of childhood obesity.
It will hypothesize that younger children are more vulnerable to care neglect. On the other hand, supervisory neglect may be a more noteworthy feature as the child develops. Older children are likely to participate in more perspectives outside their homes. They also experience an increased degree of independence.
Other research
There is substantial research that has been conducted previously regarding the possible environmental contributors to child obesity. However, most of these potential contributors have not been explicitly examined. Some of the potential contributors to childhood obesity are poor parenting and maltreatment. A variety of evidence indicates that parental neglect contributes to childhood obesity. A study conducted by Christoffel and Forsyth cataloged the life circumstances of twelve extremely obese child patients.
The researchers found that families of the patients were characterized by disorder, splitting-up of mothers and children, shifting of childcare, denial by parents the child’s weight challenge, and lack of medical continuation. All these aspects are features of care that are frequently included under deliberations of neglect in the child neglect literature (Christoffel & Forsyth, 1989).
More evidence consistent with the postulated link between parental neglect and obesity emerges from reflective studies of childhood obesity experiences of adults. There is also a study that was conducted in Denmark, where teachers and school nurses were the participants. They gave their ratings of childhood neglect regarding the prospect of a child becoming obese. There was a close connection between the two parameters. The findings were similar to other research where sexual abuse was associated with young adult obesity.
Literature review
Conducting this research, it will be imperative to review past literature on childhood obesity. Neglect has been described as a circumstance where parental inaction turns into harm to a child. It is also a situation where the primary needs of a child are ignored by the parent. Knutson suggests that parental neglect is a major contributor to childhood obesity.
The authors indicate that a variety of classifications of parental neglect can be used to elucidate precisely how situations of neglect are linked to such childhood outcomes, including obesity. In approaching the issue, the authors developed a theoretical model that differentiates between care neglect and supervisory neglect. They provided experimental evidence that these forms of neglect contribute, as autonomous factors, to the growth of children’s wellbeing (Knutson, 2010).
Todd Varness indicates that the prevalence of childhood obesity is on the increase. These include severe obesity and obesity-associated conditions. The approach taken by the researchers sought to answer whether or not childhood obesity involves parental or medical neglect. They state that the term for describing different degrees of obesity have varied over time. With the increase in cases of childhood obesity, the health consequences associated with the same are increasing.
These include hypertension, orthopedic challenges, and psychosocial distress. A research conducted in 2008 projected the prevalence rate of severe obesity at 4 percent among American children and adolescents. This is more than 2 million children, which are a startling figure that has the potential to interfere with the social and economic aspects of the country. There are infrequent monogenic and endocrine origins of obesity. Obesity is mostly multifactorial.
Hereditary configuration confers vulnerability for extra fat buildup. It also involves environmental features, including extra energy ingestion and reduced physical activity. These factors aggravate the possibility of accumulation of body fat. Irrespective of the origin of obesity, the result is the discrepancy between energy ingestion and energy use.
Todd Varness defines child neglect as the failure of the parent to pursue essential medical care. The failure results in the child being exposed to serious harm. They concur that parental neglect may result in obesity. This is particularly the case when the parents do not pursue medical care, refuse to offer the suggested medical attention or manage the child’s behavior to a level that puts the child in danger of serious harm.
Minna Lotz (2004) asserts that childhood obesity is a result of a moral problem on the part of the parent as opposed to neglect. Lotz argues that obesity is not the result of lifestyle about the child’s nutrition, physical activity, and weight. The author looks at the whole scenario from the perspective in which the parent holds the position of making decisions regarding a child’s diet and lifestyle. He insists that childhood obesity is an avoidable condition with a capacity of incurring human and non-human costs.
The child may experience premature death while the economy suffers primary care provision costs. He argues that the fact that obesity has a health impact on a child should warrant moral concern. Obese children develop a negative self-image and declining degrees of self-esteem as they develop (Lotz, 2004).
By exploring the factors that contribute to childhood obesity, including the extended time of watching television and dietary consumption, he brings to light the role of parent neglect in childhood obesity, albeit indirectly. Lotz seems to blame the liberty of parents in raising children as the main cause of childhood obesity as opposed to neglect. He views childhood obesity as a moral issue.
Methods
This research primarily uses interviews to establish the relationship between parental negligence and childhood obesity. Socially disadvantaged families, including obese children and their parent(s), will be enrolled in the research.
The families live in Southeastern Iowa. The result will be diverse concerning the level of wealth, ethnic, and racial composition. The project will mainly focus on families that have obese children, experience domestic violence, and are financially disadvantaged, considering that domestic violence encompasses negligent parenting.
This paper will also use published research results to get diverse facts that link parental neglect to childhood obesity. Study on the prevalence of childhood prevalence in Iowa has previously been conducted. It will form a basis for comparing the prevalence versus parental negligence.
Home Environment Questionnaire
The interview will be accompanied by the Home Environment Questionnaire (HEQ). This is a psychometrically true or false questionnaire. It objectively utilizes phrased items to acquire information about the child’s home environment.
The HEQ will be composed of four experimentally derived scales that will measure the scopes of a child’s environment that is hypothetically pertinent to the expression of divergent and non-divergent child behaviors. The achievement scale gauges the family conditions that shape or provide support for the child to achieve.
Care neglect
Care neglect will comprise a variety of item summative index. This will be derived from the in-home interview. It will reflect on both parent report and objective observation care neglect ratings by the researcher, such as whether or not the child has had a routine medical examination for the past one year. The household environment will also be measured. These are the conditions that would result in social and physical risks such as overcrowded household, insufficient lighting and furniture, and accessibility to medicines, among others.
Supervisory neglect
The awareness of child activities by parents is an essential element of parental supervision (Dishion & McMahon, 1998). For the participating obese children in this study, the aspect of parent awareness of the child’s activities will reflect on the comparison between parent and child report. Two concordances marks will be derived to measure operational, supervisory abilities of the parent based on the work of Knutson.
The first set of the index will be the correspondence between child report and the parent report regarding Children’s Reinforcement Survey (RSS). The RSS will be applied during the interview. It will ask the child to identify the individual they spend the most time with. Their favorite food and the dolls they use most will be listed. The child will be asked about the activities in which they engage and the locations they spend most of their time.
They will be asked to list the dolls they lack but would like to have and the individuals with whom they would like to be with. The parent will fill RSS form. This will include similar sets as the child’s version. This approach has previously been used. Hall utilized the real agreement for the manifestation statistics between the child and parent report as a single indicator of supervision.
Participants
The study will include 30 families. The number of participants will depend on whether the family has both parents and the number of obese children in the family. The children participating will not be exclusively obese children. Healthy children will also be involved to create room for the comparison of healthy and obese children to determine the impact of parental negligence. The participants will be drawn from different backgrounds. The parenting style will also be a factor for parent participants to be involved.
Four parenting styles will be the basis for selecting adult participants. The four styles to be considered will be consistent with Baumrind’s theory. These are authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and negligent styles. However, this study will be more interested in the negligent parents. This will enable the researcher to evaluate the impact of parental negligence on the health of children and particularly the prevalence of childhood obesity.
Sampling procedure
The sample involved in this study will be small, considering time and financial limitations. Thirty households will be involved in the initial study. This will create a basis for researching the future where a bigger sample will be involved. The household will be considered a cluster. The study will use a single approach to families.
Eventually, the households where negligent parenting is evident will be clustered together and vice versa. Next, the households with negligent parents and an obese child will be put in the same cluster. Households with proper parenting will be put together. Those with an obese child will be put in the same cluster. Eventually, the study will have four clusters. These clusters will be the basis for evaluating whether or not parental negligence influences the probability of occurrence of childhood obesity.
During the first interview with the parents, we will ensure that each of the four groups is represented in the sample. This will help in eliminating bias. The study seeks to establish the relationship between parental negligence and the prevalence of childhood obesity. Consequently, it will be imperative to involve households where parenting is not negligent, but there is an occurrence of childhood obesity. Upon meeting the criteria, verbal interviews will be conducted with both the parent and the child.
Questionnaires will be given to the participants. Considering the tight schedule most households have, it will be the prerogative of the participant to fill in the questionnaire immediately. If this is not possible, the questionnaire will be collected later. However, participants will be informed that the study involves the examination of the home environment. If permission is denied, another participant will be selected.
Data collection
Interviews will be significant in collecting data for this study. This will entail verbal interviews with the participants. The initial interview with the parent will be aimed at gaining informed consent. The face-to-face interaction with the parent is expected to last for 60 minutes. Upon gaining informed consent, there will be a structured interview. The family background will also be included in the structured interview. The living conditions will be documented.
The structured interview will be constructed based on the variation of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME). Partially, it will be constructed on the model of the Study Sub-Committee of the Interagency Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect. It will encompass queries associated with injury prevention measures.
Considering that the interview will take place in the participant’s house, it will be possible to evaluate situations of negligence. This will include sleeping plan, hygiene, and dangers posed on the child in the home setting.
Informed consent
The informed consent and enrolment into the research will take place during the in-home interview with the parent. The participation will see the children receive a toy worth $10 or equivalent cash. The study will be conducted under the sponsorship of the University of Iowa Institutional Review Board and Certificates of Confidentiality. The study protocol will openly exclude informing the social agencies about the participants selected to enroll in the study. The study will be devoid of social-service incentives for participation.
Conclusion
Childhood obesity is on the increase globally. There is a variety of factors that contribute to it. The most obvious include hereditary, generic, and environmental factors. It is important to examine other factors that may contribute to childhood obesity.
This includes the impact of parental neglect given a child developing childhood obesity. It is morally wrong for society to wait for a child to get to the level of the life-threatening condition to intervene. It is hence imperative to carry out this research to establish facts on the relationship between parental neglect and childhood obesity.
References
Christoffel, K. & Forsyth, B. (1989). Mirror image of environmental deprivation: Severe childhood obesity of psychosocial origin. Child Abuse & Neglect, 13(1), 249–256.
Dishion, T. & McMahon, R. (1998). Parental monitoring and the prevention of child and adolescent problem behavior: A conceptual and empirical formulation. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 1(1), 61–75.
Knutson, J. (2010). The role of care neglect and supervisory neglect in childhood obesity in a disadvantaged sample. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 35(5), 523-532.
Lotz, M. (2004). Childhood obesity and the question of parental liberty. Journal of Social Philosophy, 35(2), 288-303.
Whitaker, C. (2007). The association between maltreatment and obesity among preschool children. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31(1), 1187–1199.