Behavior and Social Factors In the United States

Running head: BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL FACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES 1
Behavior and Social Factors In the United States
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL FACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES 2
Part A
Health Issue
The issue selected for analysis in this part is about obesity and overweight that is evident
among children under 5 years of age. Based on scenario 2, a pediatrician from the White Plains
focuses on fulfilling the needs of an ethnically diverse population that has been monitored in the
past 10 years. Based on the pediatrician, 50% of the population is obese and overweight (Ng et
al., 2014). The pediatrician is mainly concerned with the trend as it has been increasing rapidly
particularly among children below 5 years (Singh, Siahpush, Hiatt & Timsina, 2011). Therefore,
this section seeks to analyze overweight and obesity as the health issue particularly among
children below 5 years as the community for reference.
Specific Steps for Intervention of Overweight and Obesity
First, counseling and behavioral intervention where parents are advised about dietary
changes targets towards improving the overweight and obesity issue among the children below
the age of 5 years to be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is
designed to minimize the intake of refined, processed, and ready foods that consists fats and
sugars (Cochran & Baus, 2015). This intervention indicates that children below the age of 5
years should be given food rich in fiber that can help in minimizing the risks associated with
metabolic syndrome. The second step in this intervention involves campaigning for the
avoidance of crash-dieting an intervention that focuses on ensuring that overweight and obesity
children below 5 years intake low-calorie liquid diet (Fock & Khoo, 2013). In this step, a health
practitioner needs to monitor this strategy of avoiding crash-dieting to ensure that the children
follow the outlined rules to be safe. Additionally, children below 5 years need to be taken
through vigorous physical activity such as walking to ensure that their bodies burn calories to

BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL FACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES 3
address obesity and overweight. Children below 5 years can also be engaged in swimming
activities as well as walking through stairs to ensure that they burn excess fat (Li et al., 2013).
Third, the intervention is also to direct to ensure that the children below 5 years who are
overweight and obesity are provided with weight loss medications (Brazier, 2018). However, this
step is only considered if the physical activity and dietary changes fail to work and if the child’s
health is at risk. For example, the National Institute of Health suggests that the medications
should be used along with minimized calories in the diet. Doctors in the United States used to
prescribe Sibutramine in 2010 as medications for overweight and obesity, but the United States
and Drug Administration removed it as it is associated with adverse side effects. Lastly, the
intervention may demand surgery to remove the excess fat especially in the intestine or stomach
among children. However, this step may lead to a smaller stomach or the digestive system may
be by-passed. Clearly, the counseling and behavioral intervention for overweight and obesity
involve significant steps that can help in minimizing the issue of overweight and obesity among
the children below 5 years.
Factors that contribute to Overweight and Obesity
Behavioral Factors
Various behavioral factors contribute to overweight and obesity among the children
below 5 years. For instance, energy intake is a behavioral factor that contributes to overweight
and obesity among children. Notably, the amount of food taken by a child depends on their sex,
age, body size, or their degree of physical activity (Kramer, Zinman & Retnakaran, 2013). If
children are used to consuming foods with high intake of sugars and fats it contributes to
overweight and obesity. Supporting evidence shows that in 2011 and 2012 the energy intake
among children estimated 6, 000 kilojoules particularly those between the ages of 2-3 years.

BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL FACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES 4
The other behavioral factor is that overweight and obesity is about energy expenditure.
Notably, the human body expends energy through basal metabolism, physical activity, and
thermic processes. In this case, physical activity is the most beneficial way of losing weight and
if children are physically inactive then they experience overweight and obesity. Supporting
evidence shows that children below 5 years lose about 20% of the energy on a daily basis
through physical activities (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2017).
The other behavioral factor involves the capability of balancing physical activity and
healthy eating that is crucial to children below five years. It is difficult to maintain energy
balance in a child’s body and it is clear that at some point small intake of foods contributes to
energy gain after a long period of time. In this case, children below 5 years require highly
nutritious foods that can help them towards growing and developing.
Social Factors
Social class connects to a child’s BMI that change globally. Clearly, data collected in
1989 shows that children from the high social class are not likely to have overweight and obesity
health issue (Devaux & Sassi, 2011). However, this data is controversial since the data collected
in the modern world shows that about 30% of the children from high social class particularly in
the developed countries have overweight and obesity issues (Hilpert et al., 2012). Clearly, the
factor of social class was impacted by globalization that changes the individual lifestyles
especially their dietary changes (Al-Hazzaa, Abahussain, Al-Sobayel, Qahwaji & Musaiger,
2012).
Second, stress is also a social factor that contributes to increased overweight and obesity
issues among children below 5 years. Notably, stress and emotional problems cause the brain to
foster the eating styles of children hence resulting in overweight and obesity. Stress tends to