Introduction
Adverse experiences in childhood have a major impact on children’s mental, physical, and social development. Extant research on children’s development finds that kids that are brought up by married biological parents achieve better physical, emotional, and academic outcomes (D’Onofrio & Emery, 2019). Nevertheless, an increasing number of children grow up in unstable and single-parent families due to divorce and separation. Others grow up in single-parent households as a consequence of non-marital childbearing and cohabitation. Yet, these children face a significant risk of developing mental and physical conditions, including depression, disruptive behaviors, and eating disorders.
This research explores the children’s predisposition to obesity and general lack of good health based on their familial backgrounds. It uses the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) dataset that includes 48,784 children aged 0-17 years of age (US Centers for Disease Control, 2021). The dataset contained several variables, but only three were used in this study. These included the children’s health, adverse childhood experiences, and obesity. A cross-tabulation was used to determine the frequencies of each category of respondents, and an odds ratio was calculated to determine the risk associated with growing up in a broken family.
Subjects and Methods
The research adopted a quantitative research design. It used secondary data as primary data could not be collected given the limited time, lack of resources, and the large size of the target population. In addition, the research required an extended period of study and recording of changes in the selected subjects. Lastly, the availability of an accurate and comprehensive dataset from a credible website justified the use of secondary data to determine the odds ratio posed by the identified risk factors.
The first operation was to recode one dataset into different variables. The variable nom20obese_16 in the SPSS data file was coded into four levels. However, an odds ratio requires only two dichotomous outcomes from each variable. Consequently, the variable was coded into two outcomes that included obese and non-obese categories. This recording facilitated the calculation of the odds ratio to determine the predisposition to obesity and other health conditions.
Results
The first analysis used cross-tabulation and odds ratio to determine the predisposition to obesity for children that grew up in broken families. Table 1 shows the SPSS output and odds ratio of children becoming obese based on their familial background.
Table 1: Cross-tabulation of divorced parents against obesity
Table 1 shows that children that experienced adverse childhood experiences had a 10.3% chance of becoming obese. In comparison, only 5.1% of children that did not experience negative childhood experiences were obese. Further, the odds ratio indicates that children with negative childhood experiences due to parents’ divorce or separation were 46.60% more likely to become obese compared to those that grew up in normal households. These findings corroborate the conclusions of other studies on the same subject.
A second cross-tabulation was performed to determine the association between adverse childhood experiences and overall health. Table 2 shows the cross-tabulation of the two variables.
Table 2: Cross-tabulation of health and adverse childhood experiences
Table 2 shows that children that had negative childhood experiences had a 13% chance of being in good, fair, or poor health. In contrast, children that did not have adverse childhood experiences had a 6.4% chance of being in good, fair, or poor health. In addition, the odds ratio of developing ill health is 46% higher for children that experienced negative childhood experiences. Consequently, adverse childhood experiences brought about by parental separation or divorce reduce increases the chances of ill health among children.
Discussion and Conclusion
Children that have had adverse experiences in childhood are more likely to develop health conditions and obesity in their adolescence. Potential causes of these adverse outcomes include financial pressure on the remaining parent that results in less time spent in parenting, emotional stress, compromised social and psychological maturation, and loss of cognitive and academic simulation (Brand, et al., 2019). In addition, divorced or separated parents experience immense emotional stress that often drives them to substance dependence. These social and psychological mechanisms of coping with adversity might travel be reflected in their children’s health.
Policymakers must develop new interventions to stem the increasing rates of family breakdown. Maintaining strong familial structures shields children from the extreme physical, emotional, and social stress that arises from domestic conflicts. Potential interventions include legislation requiring joint or alternate custodial rights for vulnerable children, financial support, and counseling for the affected families. These interventions can mitigate the adverse outcomes that arise from divorce.
References
D’Onofrio, B., & Emery, R. (2019). Parental divorce or separation and children’s mental health. World Psychiatry, 18(1), 100–101.
Brand, J.E., Moore, R., Song, X., & Xie, Y. (2019). Parental divorce is not uniformly disruptive to children’s educational attainment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116 (15), 7266-727.
US Centers for Disease Control. (2021). 2016-17 National Survey of Children’s Health. US CDC Website.