Obesity in Hispanic Children: The Effect of Parent's Nutritional Knowledge Open Access
Patel, Trisha Mukesh (2013)
Abstract
Over the past several decades, the childhood
obesity and overweight epidemic has emerged as an area of concern
for physicians and researchers. This epidemic disproportionately
affects Hispanic children, making it essential to understanding the
various causes of overweight and obesity in this population in
order to develop appropriate intervention. The primary purpose of
my thesis was to test the hypothesis that, within Atlanta's
Hispanic population, parent's lack of knowledge of healthy eating
is related to his or her child being overweight or obese. My
project also attempted to ethnographically characterize the study
population, to characterize nutritional knowledge of parents, and
to better understand patterns of child feeding in the study
population. Thirty semi-structured interviews with parents (15
parents of overweight or obese children and 15 parents of normal
weight children) were conducted at the Lindbergh Women and
Children's Center and the International Medical Center to assess
nutritional knowledge and child-feeding habits of the study
population. By connecting parents' level of nutritional knowledge
with their child's Body Mass Index (BMI), the relationship between
parents' nutritional knowledge and child's weight was evaluated.
Results showed no evident association between nutritional knowledge
and weight classification of children (normal weight, overweight,
or obese). Thus, other factors are important to consider in order
to fully understand the causes of overweight and obesity in the
study population. Based on the findings, these factors include
percent of monthly income spent on food, fruit and vegetable
consumption, portion size of breakfast and dinner, food insecurity,
and child control over diet.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
Background………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..2
Research Goals and Objectives…………………………………………………………………………………………………..5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7
Prevalence of the Obesity Epidemic………………………………………………………………………………………..…8
Summary of Causes of Childhood Obesity………………………………………………………………………………..11
Parental Knowledge of Nutrition and Childhood Obesity………………………………………………………...16
The Causes of Obesity in the Hispanic Population…………………………………………………………….……..20
Summary………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….23
Hypothesis………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……24
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH SITES 26
Rationale for Project………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..27
Description of Research Sites…………………………………………………………………………………………………..28
CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY 31
Timeline of Project…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..32
Study Design…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….32
Study Population……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..34
Data Collection…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………34
Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………35
CHAPTER 5: RESULTS 37
Interviewee Profile…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..38
Quantitative Results…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………39
Qualitative Results……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………51
CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION AND LIMITATIONS 65
Overview………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….66
Knowledge of Nutrition and Weight Classification……………………………………………………………………66
Percentage of Monthly Income Spent on Food………………………………………………………………………..67
Fruit and Vegetable Consumption……………………………………………………………………………………………69
Portion Size of Breakfast and Dinner………………………………………………………………………………………..70
Food Insecurity………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..73
Child Control Over Diet…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….74
Child-Feeding Environment………………………………………………………………………………………………………78
Limitations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…79
CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 82
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….83
Future Studies……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…83
Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..84
BIBLIOGRAPHY 86
APPENDIX 95
Appendix 1……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….96
Appendix 2……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….97
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