Benson, Lisa and Mokhtari, Manouchehr 2011, ‘Parental employment, shared parent -child activities and childhood activities’, J Fam Econ, vol. 32, no. 5 pp. 233-234.
Summary:
The main point of discussion in this article is the impact of parental participation on the child’s health. This discussion is based on percentile body mass index toll of measurement. (pBMI).This index investigates the role of parents in the growth of their children. An axiom that parental care is reserved for mothers only is insufficient. Father’s contribution in parental care indicates positive impact.
This study indicates that time spent at work by parents influences a child’s health. Joint involvement in decision-making by parents positively affects child’s health as it reduces disagreements According to a study by center for disease control and prevention 2009, Obesity rates have more than tripled since the year 1970 with 31% of children categorized as either overweight or obese. Increased overweight seriously impacts the labor force. The workers manifest this in increased absenteeism at work and low production. Besides, treatment costs for both the children and parents have affected the psychological status of the family. Premature deaths due to obesity related problems like cardiac arrest and high blood pressure have reduced the manpower in the work place. The article used collection of previous studies by scholars and analyzed the variables to form a convincing deduction.
Critique:
Working for long hours is also a contributing factor in the child’s health performance. This leads to consumption of unbalanced diet with high content of sugar and fats. For instance, fast foods are appropriate for employees since they save time. However, the caloric content may interfere with the hormonal imbalance leading to escalation of obesity among young workers.
The family structure change and the increase in both men and women workforce and the single parenting families is a contributing factor in the deteriorating childhood and adulthood obesity rates. However, several scholars have turned down the role of fathers in reducing obesity rates. They claim that a father’s role at home has little influence in the child’s health. The article fails to consider other factors like presence of a house help in place of the parents. Relying on the findings by Child development supplement (CDS) of the panel study of income Dynamics (PSID), on children who have both parents, the gap left by the father is strongly felt. This article was written on the basis of statistics collected on percentile body mass index method. The method cannot be relied upon fully without other complementary method like primary data collection. Presentation of the article in other research is vague since, other researches were not available.
Implications for Essay:
This study has helped to broaden my understanding of the topic. My opinion on the causes of overweight or obesity in children and young adults was as a result of consuming food with high fat content and sugar however the article provides a diverse opinion which will motivate me in my study.
Hills, A.P, Andersen, L.B and Byrne N.M 2011, ‘Physical activity and obesity’, British journal of sports medicine vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 866-870.
Summary:
This journal reviews previous writings made by scholars and opinion makers. It highlights the data collected from different countries like Australia and Canada the main point of argument is the relationship between physical activity and obesity. It highlights that physical activity reduces obesity in young childhood and at adolescent stage and reduces the risk of obesity at adult stage. In most developed nations, children have resulted into inactive activities that require less of physical movement of the body. For instance, watching television and playing computer games. This exposes them to the risk of fat accumulation clogging of blood capillaries resulting in cardiovascular ailments.
This study uses data collection method and quantitative analysis to make deductions. Parenting in the urban areas is highly exposed to this risk, as there are less active engagements. Children rarely walk and do not exercise either unlike their counterparts in the rural areas who walk for long distances thus consuming a lot of energy. Over consumption of fast foods has manipulated the hormonal balance leading to obesity. Genetic composition, environmental factors and solitary behaviors have contributed significantly. The social economic status of the family, behaviors of siblings and the parents influence on diet intake are some of the trending issues. Children in estates rarely interact physically with their age mates. Schools and shops are close to home therefore less walking distance.
Critique:
On merit, physical exercises reduce the risk of overweight due to consistent conversion of excess fats into energy. An actively involved child at a tender age is likely to have a balanced fat content in the body. Physical exercise reduces dormancy of muscles thus accelerating growth. However, the article concentrates much on less physical activity as the main problem oblivious of other factors such as family genetic composition, dietary content and imperfect information about diet among parents as other factors that may overwhelm the effect of physical activity. It does not consider cycle of inheritance in a family that result in overweight. Despite physically exercising some bodies have low reception towards weight loss. Diet may also be contributing towards obesity by eating genetic foods. This places physical activity as a secondary factor rather than the main factor.
The findings in this topic are generalized as they fail to involve all aspects of the issue. For instance, those adults who gain excess weight at adulthood cannot be able to exercise effectively.moreover, not all bodies respond to physical exercise as a tool to maintain weight and fitness. The article uses the same format in describing other researches by giving more of theoretical findings and less of empirical findings
Implications for Essay:
This study has described the influence of physical activity in a child’s growth. The reasons discussed to support this argument incline my mind to believe. However, until real facts are collected from the victims and analyzed the statistics remain weak. This motivates my study to get the main influencing factors.
Jones, Elizabeth, Leslie Gutman, and Lucinda Platt 2013, ‘Family Stressors and Children’s Outcomes’, University of Bristol.
Summary:
The document explores the parental behaviors and the stress factors that contributed to a child’s life negatively or positively at adolescence. Different age stages were evaluated, that is at age 7 and 13-14 years. The study considered the emotional intelligence of the child at adolescent age, societal and the child’s performance in school. Data from the Millennium Cohort study (MCS) considered non-verbal skills, math skills, cognitive skills and key stage1 accomplishment difficulties.
In assessing motivating factors at age 7, those families who lived in large houses recorded high index on all cognitive ability tools of measurement. Living in own apartments were rated high in education skills
If the child’s mother was under depression, poor verbal skills were evident in the child. This could be attributed to prolonged silence and utter of harsh words when provoked. A child who watched television consistently was said to have verbal problems while single parent’s children were associated with difficulties in behavior. Frequent punishment resulted in poor math’s ability as it hinders self-assertiveness and self-confidence in reasoning. Support from grandparents was connected to better verbal skills. This study used the ranking criteria. It categorized the scores from 1 to 10 and used them to make deductions.
Critique:
Children in poor background whose parents had their own homes had the same share of experience as those from well up families. Protective factors also reduced the gap between well-up families and poverty-stricken areas. High level of education in mothers from poor families scored high in math skills, ranking closely to the well-up children. Stressful events that occurred at a tender age of 7, for instance, divorce had a negative behavioral attitude on the child. Domestic abuse and oppression had an impact on all ages. Death and serious illness were attributed to lower welfare but had no impact on the level of education attained. Detention of a family member breaks the bondage resulting in psychological torture. This will severely affect the hormonal balance of the child. However the article is biased as it fails to consider the manner different children handle certain issues. Some children are more adaptive to such interruptions compared to others who are easily affected emotionally by the occurrences. The findings concentrated on a single age group and ignored other groups of higher age who are also affected. This article supports the argument in question that obesity is as result of social lapses in the society.
Implications of the Essay:
The study has channeled a deduction that social, behavioral factor in a family determine the growth of a child. This is contrary to my believe that only food diet affects the weight and body size. During my study, I will consider this factor in both low income and high income earning families to determine the degree of impact.
R, Rumbold A., et al 2012, ‘Parental work schedules and child overweight and obesity’ International Journal of Obesity, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 573-580.
Summary:
Indications were that 22.8% were obese. In circumstances where both parents were worked nonstandard working schedule, an estimated deviation of 2.26 confidence interval of 95.5% from 22.8% was recorded. The method was the analysis of International Obesity Mass Index. (IOMS) data and logistical regression analysis.
Critique:
The study reveals that a child will not get the motherly care as required since the parents are conspicuously absent. Time reserved for the children is little and therefore children are unable to express their sentiments or share moments of joy with their parents.Consequently, they get emotionally agitated which affects their hormonal reception. Presence of a house help in absence of the mother may affect the growth of the child. Harassment by the house help due to intolerance affects severely the emotional intelligence of the child .In families where there is only one parent; the child’s growth is severely impaired. However, the study ought to have considered single parented families with the father being the soul providers due to divorce or death. In addition, it does not show the advantage that a father has in parenting to significantly affect a child’s health performance. This study was not generalized as it proved its arguments statistically. However, the sample size of 434 was not uniformly distributed. It concentrated on a single age of 9 years. .This may lead to biased results that may in the future be discarded. In my research, I shall in depth analyze the related determinants that influence a child’s hormonal change due to little paternal attention.
Implications:
The arguments raised in this article have clearly described consistent absence of the parents from home to spend time with their children is ditremental.this has created a different dimension that will motivate my study to get the impact of this social problem to the society. The study will feature the size of the family, the income earned and basic expenses that a family caters. This will give clear deduction on why parents work for long hours while others work less and the impact of the children in both scenarios
CRITICAL PARAGRAPH
Analyzing from the four sources, it is evident that social issues superimpose food issue as a determinant of the obesity or overweight health condition of a child or a young adult. The articles predominantly portray obesity as an issue that leans more on social influence than diet.
Physical activity by both children and parents is among the contributing factors in child’s weight and body size. Children get motivated from their parents to exercise or engage in strenuous exercises that burn excess fat and convert to useful energy. However, this has been hampered by the paternal and maternal nonstandard work schedules that deny them time to engage their children in physical activities. Consequently, children are left in solicitude and seek consolation in less active engagements like watching television or playing computer games. The child’s diet may have high fat and sugar content foods due to the parents continued absence to prepare a balanced meal. This may affect adversely the psychological behavior of children. They may miss the parental love and care, affecting the hormonal composition and eventually result in overweight or underweight. Therefore, obesity is more attributed to social issue, rather than just food related implications as my study will reveal.
References
Benson, Lisa and Mokhtari, Manouchehr 2011, ‘Parental employment, shared parent -child activities and childhood activities’, J Fam Econ, vol. 32, no. 5 pp. 233-234.
Hills, A.P, Andersen, L.B and Byrne N.M 2011, ‘Physical activity and obesity’, British journal of sports medicine vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 866-870.
Jones, Elizabeth, Leslie Gutman, and Lucinda Platt 2013, ‘Family Stressors and Children’s Outcomes’, University of Bristol.
R, Rumbold A., et al 2012, ‘Parental work schedules and child overweight and obesity’ International Journal of Obesity, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 573-580.
