The incidence of overweight conditions among children and adolescents is a
growing national concern. Although current literature suggests that parental health
behaviors could influence health behaviors of children, studies have not explored the
actual predictive relationships of parents' and their children's weight statuses and
weight-related behaviors. In addition, current studies have not tested the influence of
parental authority, family communication, or demographic characteristics on the
relationships.
This study first examines factors that contribute to overweight conditions among
children and adolescents and the associated costs. Studies of interventions that target
children's and adolescents' weight-related health are then reviewed and provide
evidence that parental involvement contributes to intervention success. The theory of
planned behavior, social cognitive theory, social action theory, and systems theory are
discussed and support the notion that parental influences contribute to the development
of children's weight-related health behaviors. To test the relationships, 151 young
adults and their parents were recruited and completed a series of questionnaires to
describe their weight statuses, dietary behaviors, and physical activity behaviors. In
addition, the young adult participants completed questionnaires to further describe their
parents' parental authorities and their family communication environments during
childhood and adolescence.
Comparisons of body mass index, average daily energy consumption, average
weekly energy expenditure, and physical activity enjoyment of young adult participants
and their parents were conducted with correlation analyses and paired-samples t-tests.
Further, multiple regression analyses were used to explore the influence of parental
authority and family communication, and demographic characteristics were also
considered.
The empirical results of the current study indicate that, overall, parents' weight
statuses and dietary behaviors help predict weight statuses and dietary behaviors of their
young adult children. Further, parental authority scales interact with the relationships.
At high levels of authoritarian and permissive parental authorities, young adults tend to
have weight statuses that are opposite to those of their parents; at high levels of
authoritarian parenting, young adults also tend to follow opposite dietary consumption
patterns. The findings in this study have implications for professional practice,
parenting practices, and the design of intervention activities. Recommendations for
future research are provided.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ndsu.edu/oai:library.ndsu.edu:10365/29769 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Niemeier, Brandi Shea |
| Publisher | North Dakota State University |
| Source Sets | North Dakota State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text/dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
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