Ethnicity, educational level and attitudes contribute to parental intentions about genetic testing for child obesity
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Ethnicity, educational level and attitudes contribute to parental intentions about genetic testing for child obesity Paul L. Kocken & Meinou H. C. Theunissen & Yvonne Schönbeck & Lidewij Henneman & A. Cecile J. W. Janssens & Symone B. Detmar
Received: 8 June 2012 / Accepted: 20 January 2013 / Published online: 7 February 2013 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Abstract The objective of this paper is to assess parental beliefs and intentions about genetic testing for their children in a multi-ethnic population with the aim of acquiring information to guide interventions for obesity prevention and management. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in parents of native Dutch children and children from a large minority population (Turks) selected from Youth Health Care registries. P. L. Kocken (*) : M. H. C. Theunissen : Y. Schönbeck : S. B. Detmar Department of Child Health, TNO, P.O. Box 2215, 2301 CE Leiden, the Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] M. H. C. Theunissen e-mail: [email protected] Y. Schönbeck e-mail: [email protected] S. B. Detmar e-mail: [email protected] P. L. Kocken Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands L. Henneman EMGO Institute for Healthcare Research, Department of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, the Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] L. Henneman EMGO Institute for Healthcare Research, Department of Clinical Genetics, VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, the Netherlands A. C. J. W. Janssens Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands e-mail: [email protected]
The age range of the children was 5–11 years. Parents with lower levels of education and parents of non-native children were more convinced that overweight has a genetic cause and their intentions to test the genetic predisposition of their child to overweight were firmer. A firmer intention to test the child was associated with the parents’ perceptions of their child’s susceptibility to being overweight, a positive attitude towards genetic testing, and anticipated regret at not having the child tested while at risk for overweight. Interaction effects were found in ethnic and socio-economic groups. Ethnicity and educational level play a role in parental beliefs about child overweight and genetic testing. Education programmes about obesity risk, genetic testing and the importance of behaviour change should be tailored to the cultural and behavioural factors relevant to ethnic and socio-economic target groups. Keywords Genetics . Attitude . Health promotion . Obesity . Child
Introduction There has been a considerable increase in the prevalence of overweight, including obesity, in the general population over the past few decades. Adult obesity partly has its origin in childhood (Dietz 1998). Childhood overweig
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