An alarmingly high percentage of the Latin American community is obese – a figure that risks approaching half of the country’s entire Spanish population. In the context of how this problem affects children, the situation seems all the more worrisome. In Spanish-American social culture, researchers have observed a link between cultural inclusion and the ability to control your weight (Isasi et al., 2017). It is required to consider the social factors leading to the growth of this problem in order to propose strategies for overcoming it.
The problem of obesity among children in the Latin American community is not primarily related to the lack of attention of parents to the growing problem. The cultural difference, the generation gap that actually occurs in Hispanic families, can often lead to behaviors that cause obesity and cardiometabolic risks (LeCroy et al., 2020). The main factors behind the emergence of these risks is surprisingly the difference in the cultural level of education of parents and children. Difficulties in the life of an immigrant family, such as significant stress factors and the problem of language barriers, have a negative impact on communication between children and parents. Thus, a child without realizing it can be involved in food or physical behavior that entails not only obesity, but also a pre-diabetes state and a number of other dangerous diseases.
As a test study conducted among Hispanic children shows, a culturally adaptive model is required from within which healthy eating habits should be explained to Hispanic youth (Soltero et al., 2021). A healthy lifestyle and physical activity seem to be the main supportive factors in overcoming the problem of obesity. However, for the implementation of such a project, it is necessary to establish cultural adaptation of the Latin community and dialogue between Hispanic parents and their children. Thus, the primary strategy for solving the problem is social work with parents, the next stage will be a project to introduce healthy products into the diet of children. The final stage seems to be the promotion of physical activity, which, with adequate implementation, could successfully consolidate this combination of methods.
Reference
Isasi, C. R., et al. (2017). The association of parental/caregiver chronic stress with youth obesity: Findings from the study of Latino youth and the Hispanic community health study/Study of Latinos sociocultural ancillary study.Childhood Obesity, 13(4), 251-258.
LeCroy, M. N., et al. (2020). The Association of the parent-child acculturation gap with obesity and cardiometabolic risk in Hispanic/Latino youth: Results from the Hispanic community children’s health study/study of Latino youth (SOL Youth). Circulation 141.
Soltero, E. G., et al. (2021). Family-based obesity prevention interventions among hispanic children and families: A scoping review.Nutrients, 13(8), 2690.