What role does married and single parents play in childhood obesity?

Role of married and single parents in childhood obesity

The most challenging dilemmas faced by pediatricians are the skyrocketing increase and prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents . In the United States , this tends to be one of the most pressing nutritional problems among children and adolescents (Troiano et al , 1995 . Not only in the United States has childhood obesity reached epidemic proportions , but also in most of the developed nations throughout the world . Researchers believe that the number of adolescents who are overweight has tripled since 1980 and the prevalence among

br younger children has more than doubled . According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NCHS , 2005 , obesity in preschool children (aged 2-5 years ) and children (aged 6-11 years ) from 1999 to 2002 was double that between 1976 and 1980 for adolescents (aged 12-19 years , triple (Hedley et al , 1999 . Among children aged 6 to 19 years in 1999 to 2002 , 31 .0 were obese or at risk of being so and 16 .0 were overweight (Hedley et al , 1999 . Furthermore , the prevalence of obesity in children is even higher among certain ethnic groups such as African Americans , Mexican Americans , and Native Americans (Hedley et al 1999 . The Center for Disease Control reports that from 1971 to 2004 obesity rates have increased from 6 .1 to 17 .4 among adolescents (CDC 2007 . It is been observed that obese parent increased the risk for childhood obesity starting with high birth weight (Whitaker et al 1997 Whitaker , 1998 . This is...