Child Obesity: Negative Images and Social Determinants Essay

This essay addresses the critical public health challenge of child obesity, examining the negative images and societal biases associated with it. It begins by highlighting the global prevalence of childhood obesity, emphasizing its increasing impact on low and middle-income countries. The essay delves into the factors contributing to child obesity, including nutritional behavior and genetics, and utilizes the Body Mass Index (BMI) as a key diagnostic tool. The discussion section presents a survey on the impact of adjectives on children's perception of weight, and reviews reports from the United Kingdom which highlight the severity of the issue, including data on the increasing rates of obesity among school-aged children. The essay explores weight bias among parents, the impact of negative attitudes on children's mental and physical health, and the role of teachers and schools in perpetuating or mitigating weight-based victimization. It concludes that obese children are significantly affected by negative comments and attitudes, which can increase the risk of mental and physical health problems, and emphasizes the importance of healthy eating habits, mental health, and physical activity in combating the issue. The essay references several studies and reports to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted issue of child obesity and its societal impacts.

Running head: CHILD OBESITY
Global Child Obesity
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction
Obesity in children is one of the 21st century's most important public health
challenges. The problem is worldwide and especially in urban areas which continually
impacts many countries with low and middle incomes. Increased prevalence has been
troubling. Currently there are projected to be over 41 million children under the age of five in
2016. Nearly half of all overweight children under the age of five lived in Asia and a fourth
lived in Africa (World Health Organization, 2020).
Obesity has always been a serious problem in The World since a long time and
recently the section of child obesity had gained a serious concern regarding that. The issue of
child obesity has always been a complex one. The nutritional behavior and the genetics had
always been among the primary cause of obesity among the children throughout the world
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020).
Body mass Index is one prime solution towards identification of obesity among
children. The body mass index ia a way of measurement of the fats in the body based on the
measurement of weight and the height deciding that if an individual is having BMI less than
18.5 then the individual can be stated low on nutritious food or underweight. On the other had
it states that a BMI within 25 to 29.5 is overweight and BMI more than 30 depicts obesity for
an individual (nhlbi.nih.gov, 2020).
Discussion
A survey was performed among 3-5 year old preschoolers in the state of California
and it was found that adjectives have certain impacts on the physic of a child. Results came
up after a deep statistical analysis which reviewed that after a repeated ANOVA calculation
using adjectives (Positive, negative), Age (3, 4, 5), and Sex (Boys), F(1, 211)= 60,40, p <
001, g2, p= 2,222 revealed a weight disparity in comparison to thinner numbers when

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opposed to negative adjectives (see table 1). Age or age did not have any primary effect, but
the meaning of the Adjective 9 was Gender difference, F(1, 211)= 4.83, p=.03, g2 p=.02,
which resulted in girls weighing more than boys. The parameter 9 Age, F(2, 211)= 5.67, p
< .01, g2 p=.05, was also important, with 5-year-olds having a higher weight difference as
compared to 3-year-olds (Harriger et al. 2019).
According to a report of 03rd October 2019 survey in the United Kingdom, it was
found that, 250 million school-aged students will be considered as obese by the year of 2030.
Moreover, the current records states that more than 158 million school aged students are
presently falling in the category of obese (Hunt, 2019).
Like old days, the child obesity these days are turning out as severe threat for the
society. Several reports have been published in past years among several government reports.
The recent reports published on 11th October 19 states that a survey had been done by the
United Kingdom’s National Health Services among schools older than 10 to 11 years.
According to this survey among 26000 children it was found that 4.4 percent of that
population are severely obese and a population of 20.2 percent are moderately obese (Yeung.,
2019).
The reports also states that till the last, which was apparently the fourth consecutive
year when survey for obesity among children was done, it was found that obesity is running
to new hikes. The reports when first published by the National Health organization (NHS) it
was found that after the survey of the year 2006, 2.4 percent of the children (10300) are
considered as obese (Yeung., 2019).
Biasedness due to immense increase in weight has always been noted but an
observation run for biasedness had never been made among the parents with obese children.
It was also calculated the explicit and implicit disparity in parent with biased nature for

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weight of children obesity (N=658; 74,2 percent female). A mild clear weight bias was
supported by many parents (n= 612; 93 per cent). Fathers had more explicit discrimination
than mothers towards overweight / obesity and parents with obesity had less tendency
towards obesity biasedness than healthy-weight parents. Other parent / child variables (i.e.
parent age, child sex, child weight, child age) were not correlated with explicit bias in any
significant way. Parents showed implicit bias due to overweight, too. Among many others,
parents may lead to a stigmatic atmosphere for young people, with overweight / obesity,
which is correlated with detrimental psychosocial functioning of children and their wellbeing.
In order to achieve greater health and wellbeing for children, clinical research on
interventions for mitigating parental stigma towards obese children or improve their
resistance to weight discrimination is required (Lydecker, O’Brien, and Grilo., 2018).
Impacts of Weight Bias
Stress due to the negative attitude of people towards the child can be very harmful and
due to this reason, a child can start to eat more than before, which is a big risk for the child.
Any kind of stress and depression can increase the eating rate of people. This is obvious that
at the stage of obesity, any kind of negative image or attitude can give the child stress and
depression and due to this stress, the child can easily start to intake more food, which can be
dangerous for an obese child (Pont et al. 2017).
In adolescents it can be particularly severe consequences of weight disparity or
obesity stigma. Studies show that school-age children with obesity are 63% more likely to be
bullied.It can create frustration and cause depression, low self-esteem, poor body image and
even suicide when children and young people are humiliated or insulted by other individuals,
relatives or peers because of their weight (World Health Organization, 2020). Teacher
weight-based behaviors can lead to lower pupil aspirations, which can leads to low school

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outcomes for children and youth with obesity. In addition, this can impact life opportunities
and resources for children and potentially lead to social and health inequality. Action is
required in education to discourage weighted victimization, and negotiation by parents
with teachers and politicians by expressing concerns and fostering understanding of the
weight disparity in classrooms, can help for reducing obesity among children (World Health
Organization, 2020).
In the case of obesity in children, sometimes a positive attitude is also observed by the
parents. Some studies described that an obese child also gets a positive attitude from others. It
is a rare case. Some parents have a positive impact and attitude towards their children,
although there are a few conflicts also present. In most cases, children are harassed by society
for overweight. Studies have proved that teasing, bullying and negative commenting have
occurred to obese children. In recent times, many training programs and classes have started
changing society’s thoughts about obesity.
Different studies also demonstrated that negative comments and attitudes towards
obese children could not be reduced as much as required. Reducing stereotyping is difficult to
remove. In different western countries, stigmatization is a big problem. There are so many
risks that are related to negative attitudes.
According to the different studies, negative attitudes, stereotypes and negative
comments should be reduced from the society for the best outcome of the obese children.
Stigmatization leads to psychological distress, isolation and undermining joy in life.
Discrimination is extremely bad, and it is related to a somatic health problem. Due to this
stigmatisation children have started to self-judge themselves which is harmful.

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Conclusion
This study can conclude that obese children are significantly affected by the negative
comments and attitudes. The negative sociological environment can increase the risk of the
mental and physical health problems of the children. Negative images provide stress and
depression, which may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and chronic heart disease. As per
the study, parents should give courage to the children to get out of obesity through different
types of training and classes can control stereotypes, negative comments and attitudes.
Healthy food habits can control obesity problem. The mother should maintain the child’s
healthy diet and physical activity routine. Training programs should stop negative attitudes.
Obesity has some negative impacts such as diabetes and chronic heart disease which can
affect the children. Girls suffer more from negative attitudes. This study also can conclude
negative body image of a girl child is another reason for obesity. A fat and sugar-free diet can
help the child to maintain good health. Hence, mental health and physical health should be
maintained.

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References
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020). Causes and Consequences of
Childhood Obesity. [online] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at:
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/causes.html [Accessed 17 Jan. 2020].
2. Harriger, J., Trammell, J., Wick, M. and Luedke, M., 2019. Gender and age
differences in pre‐schoolers’ weight bias beliefs and behavioural intentions. British
Journal of Developmental Psychology, 37(4), pp.461-465.
3. Hunt, K. (2019). The world will have more than 250 million obese kids by 2030, a
new report warns. [online] CNN. Available at:
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[Accessed 17 Jan. 2020].
4. Lydecker, J.A., O’Brien, E. and Grilo, C.M., 2018. Parents have both implicit and
explicit biases against children with obesity. Journal of behavioral medicine, 41(6),
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5. nhlbi.nih.gov (2020). Calculate Your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator. [online]
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Jan. 2020].
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8. World Health Organization (2020). World Obesity Day: Understanding the social
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9. Yeung, J. (2019). Severe child obesity hits all-time high in UK. [online] CNN.
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