The Effects of Family Structure on Consumption and Exercise Patterns for Adolescent Youth
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The Effects of Family Structure on Consumption and Exercise Patterns for Adolescent Youth Anna Yelick1
Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract With over 22 million children considered overweight or obese, research needs to examine factors related to overweightness and obesity. Parents seem to have an influence on their children’s eating behaviors such as taste likes and dislikes and quality and quantity of food. Parents also seem to influence their children’s physical activity levels. A link between physical activity level and obesity exists, indicating that less active children have an increased risk for high BMIs, with children from single parent families having higher than normal BMIs compared to children from two-parent families. The purpose of this study is to examine whether family structure influences eating and exercise patterns of adolescent youth. The current study employed a secondary data analysis utilizing data from the HBSC (N = 6733). According to the data, participants engaged in approximately 3.76 healthy consumption behaviors per week and moderate levels of exercise (mean = 2.38). The linear regression analysis indicated a significant relationship between family structure and consumption patterns, as youth from single parent families, stepparent families, and multigenerational families have fewer healthy consumption patterns (-.256, -.142, and -.164, respectively) compared to youth from two-parent families. Healthy eating initiatives need to target both parents and children, as a relationship between consumption patterns and family structure exists. Additionally, future research needs to examine initiatives targeted at promoting physical activity, particularly among overweight
& Anna Yelick [email protected] 1
Florida State University, 296 Champions Way, University Center C, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
and obese youth who are less likely to engage in physical activity. Keywords Obesity Consumption patterns Exercise patterns Family structure Adolescents Decreased healthy eating and exercise behaviors have been linked to childhood obesity, the rate of which has increased over the last 10 years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of obese children between the ages of 6 and 11 in the United States increased from 7 % in 1980 to approximately 18 % in 2012. Over the same period, obesity rates for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 increased from 5 % to over 20 % (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2012; National Center for Health Statistics, 2012). Overweight children are at an increased risk of becoming obese as well as developing other health risk problems throughout childhood and adulthood (Farhat, Iannotti, & Simmons-Morton, 2010; Schmeer, 2012). These health risk problems include cardiovascular diseases such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure, with nearly 70 % of obese youth having at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease (Freedman, Mei, Srinivasan, Berenson, & Dietz, 2007), prediabetes (Li, Ford, Zhao, & Mok
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