Obesity poses a significant threat to the both the present and long-term physical and psychological health in the United States. The threat arises from the high prevalence of obesity in the country. Based on the World Health Organization’s statistics, approximately 13% of the world’s obese people live in the U.S. (Paxton & Damiano, 2017). Of this population children and adolescents rank the highest. Compared to the 70s, the number of children that are obese has tripled. Furthermore, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that as of 2016 in every five school-going children, one was obese (Skinner et al. 2018). Adolescents and adults are not an exception either. Their numbers have also doubled over the last few decades. It is scary to know that despite the numerous efforts both locally and at a national level, obesity continues to be on an upward spiral. Sedentary lifestyles and cultural and environmental factors are the major causes of the high rates obesity in the U.S. Obesity has maintained high prevalence over the years as a results of a vicious cycle between the causes and psychological implications.
Trends: Obesity by the Numbers
The prevalence of obesity has been dramatically increasing across all ages. In a recent research, Skinner et al, (2018) reveal that studies done in the past report a continuous increase in the rates of obesity since 1999. The severity of obesity has been reported particularly among adolescents and children of Hispanic and African American descent. Some studies, however have reported obesity stabilization since 1988. For instance, Hales et al (2016) in her study indicates that obesity prevalence among the youth plateaued between the years 2005 to 2006 and 2013 to 2014. The scholars are keen to note that prevalence among adults has been on an upward trend. Based on the findings of the study 2007 to 2008 and 2015 to 2016 were the most severe.
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Over the years obesity has been associated with having a BMI that is greater than 99%. Recent studies, however reveal that BMI scores are a poor reflection of obesity adiposity among children and adolescents (Skinner et al, 2018). Scholars recommend an alternative measure other than BMI to describe the severity of obesity. The study concludes that despite the use of updated obesity classifications, the numbers still continue to be high (Skinner et al, 2018). From an age standpoint adolescents have had the significant increase in obesity numbers over the years. On the other hand, there are substantial racial ethnic differences in obese numbers with Hispanics and African Americans having a high prevalence currently and in the past.
Despite public health and clinical focus on prevention of obesity over the last few decades, the prevalence has not decreased. In addition, there is scanty evidence that the efforts put are countering the environmental and individual contributors of the high prevalence of obesity. Kramer et al (2016) acknowledge that the prevalence of obesity has remained high for young people aged between the ages of 12 and 19. For the contiguous United States of America, the authors found out that obesity varies across geographical locations in the United States. High prevalence of obesity is particularly in the Southern parts of the U.S. including Appalachian. These areas are mainly occupied by ethnic minority groups such as Latinos, Hispanics, and African Americans. The research confirms previous studies that have found high prevalence of obesity among African adolescents and children of African Americans or Hispanics.
Causes of Obesity
The increasing prevalence in obesity is attributed to the poor eating habits, sedentary lifestyles, and in some cases genetic make-up. From a standpoint of genetic factors, approximately 35-40% of children in the U.S. have their weight deposited directly from the genes of their parents. A study done in the past collected data from over 100,000 children in the U.S. and the results revealed that the BMI of children is linked to the contribution of their parents (Seal, 2016). Other heritability phenotypes that result in obesity include fat mass, the thickness of skin and the ratio between the skin and hip. Children who have obese relative are at a high risk of becoming obese. Seal (2016) notes that obesity in children is not in certain families as it is in the case of other inheritable diseases. Instead, the genetic make-up reveals a pattern of the involvement of several genes from which children could pick bad eating habits.
The core cause of the high prevalence of obesity in the U.S. stems from bad eating habits. These include less intake of vegetables and fruit. Instead they consume foods that have a high calorie content. Additionally eating out, emotional eating, and high intake of sweetened beverages have resulted in the non-decreasing obesity rates over the years. The number of sweetened beverages in the U.S. has also increased tremendously. Besides, most of the carbohydrate content in foods is derived from sweetened beverages. The consumption of sweet beverages is among children. Furthermore, the National School Feeding Program by the federal government encourages children to consume sweetened beverages as an afternoon snack at school (Momin, 2018). This reason explains why obesity in the United States has been increasing.
Also, eating out has become a popular culture in the West especially among millennials. Normally children are in the accompaniment of their children to fast food restaurants instead of preparing a home-made meal. Examples of favorite fast foods consumed by children include pizzas, hamburgers, and hot dogs among other varieties. These foods have a high calorie content and scanty nutrients that would promote the health of the child. One of the famous fast food commonly found in McDonalds is the medium package that consists of a bottle of coke, an ice cream topping and French fries. This combination has 1200 calories. The regular consumption of these foods imply an addition of extra calories to the body which results to obesity over time. On average, children eats between 5 and 10 meals outside their home every month (Cecchini & Warin, 2016). Notably the number of fast food restaurants in the United States has also been increasing over the years sequentially encouraging more eat outs and consequently obesity.
It is also worth noting that most fast food restaurants have no information on caloric and nutritional content of their meals. During purchase, there are no labels of nutrition content like those of foods found in stores. The absence of nutritional content value has caused children, adolescents, and adults alike to consume food anyhow without being knowledgeable of the number of calories they are consuming. With the share of the expenditure on food eaten outside the home having increased over the years, this implies that double the children population is consuming foods whose caloric content they are unaware of (Cecchini & Warin, 2016). Sequentially resulting in high prevalence of obesity.
From a psychological standpoint, the feeling of satiety is a consequence of the need to satisfy hunger which promotes food consumption. In most cases, however, children binge eat even when they are not hungry. Research reveals that a child’s relation to food has a huge determinant on whether they’ll be obese or not (Chu et al, 2019). Emotional feeding is controlled by the sight and smell of food instead of being hungry. In another research, scholars offered a group of boys snacks after dinner (Paxton & Damiano, 2017). In a span of two months, those that consumed more snacks than the rest became obese while the ones that had an average meal gained average weight. The research reveals that children that are enthusiastic about food continue to feed, sequentially gaining more calories. A high intake of calories results in fats accumulation in the body which eventually translates to obesity.
Another cause of obesity is inactivity that stems from sedentary lifestyles. Physical activity plays a very important role in preventing obesity in children .As much as there are physical activity sessions in school, children spend a significant part of the day seated in class. The scarce opportunities for children to be active in school are associated with the high prevalence of obesity in the country. Another reason for inactivity is the increase in hours spent on watching TV. A recent poll conducted by the National Health Survey indicates that children of up to 11 years spend an average of four hours watching on a daily basis (Paxton & Damiano, 2017). Lengthy periods spent on the television implies less activity for the child. This leaves the child with little or no time to play with their friends. The lack of social playing can be detrimental in the child’s mental well-being.
Besides bingeing on the TV, adolescents, particularly millennials have become self-absorbed in technology. Time that was once used to play outside is now spent with technological gadgets. Quite a significant number of them nowadays spend time on video and computer games other than being involved in physical activity (Greydanus et al, 2018). In addition to video games, adolescents are also stuck on their smartphones on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and MySpace among others. On a daily basis, adolescents spend an average of four hours on social media. On these sites, their chances of coming across ads of fatty foods and sweetened beverages are high. Children frequently on social media do not only become obese through physical inactivity but also they are likely to be involved in unhealthy food choices.
Psychological Implications of Obesity
For both children and adolescents that are obese, living with the condition can be mentally decrementing. The social stigma associated with obesity is as damaging as the chronic heart diseases and other physical conditions caused by obesity. Furthermore, the American society puts thinness as the premium of a beautiful body image (Chowdhury &Mukherjee). At its core, body image is the evaluation of an individual’s appearance. Obese children are dissatisfied with their body image appearances at a tender age, as early as pre-school and kindergarten. Body dissatisfaction is higher among children that are obese compared to their peers who are average. As such obesity is linked to psychological issues including low self-esteem, depression, and emotional eating.
Depression
With all the ongoing turmoil about an obese child physical appearance, the child may feel that he does not fit well among his peers. Often such children distance themselves and end up lonely. When the scenario becomes integrated in his life, the child is likely to become depressed and result into self-withdrawal. Recent research reveals a mix of findings in the link between obesity and depression (Paxton & Damiano, 2017). Some have reported that obesity has a little risk for clinical depression among children. On the other hand, others have revealed that depression as a result of obesity varies with the extent from one child to the other.
Emotional Eating
According to research, emotional eating behaviors such as dieting, fasting, and binging are common in obese children and adolescents. Ironically, binge eating is both a risk factor for obesity and also a consequence. As such it is scary that obesity is a vicious cycle. For this reason, prevalence has been continually high despite the prevention measures and campaigns taken over the years. In addition to emotional eating other factors such as the death of a parent, separation and divorce of parents, and moving to a new region might psychologically affect children consequently resulting in overindulgence in food.
Self-Esteem Issues and School Bullying
According to Paxton & Damiano (2017), obesity causes children to have low self-esteem. Although some overweight children are very popular among their classmates, they are more likely to have self-esteem issues compared to their thinner peers. The feelings of shame in obese children stems from comments by their classmates and even adults that blame them for being obese. In some cases they are called names and subjected to teasing and bullying. They could be abandoned by their friends as well as have trouble making new ones. This can result to depression. It is scary to know that the psychological implications of obesity could worsen the mental well-being of obese children and adolescents. Girls tend to have more negative perceptions of themselves as compared to boys.
Social Stigma and Discrimination
Chu et al, (2019) reveal that obesity is highly associated with social stigmatization and discrimination. Often obese children are associated with negative stereotypes and obese children are less likeable among their peers. In the case of obese adolescents and adults, research reveals that they are more likely to experience difficulties in finding a job or even earning a decent income. As such most of them end up being poor. The poverty exposes them to buying cheap unhealthy foods resulting in obesity. Research, further indicates that even in prestigious universities, obese children are less likely to be admitted. Girls, on the other hand who are obese are less likely to find healthy partners and end up marrying their fellow obese people. This sort of discrimination of obese people in all aspects of their lives is dangerous for their psychological well-being.
Prevention Efforts
Admittedly, the high prevalence of childhood obesity has a huge burden not only on the economy but also on the psychological and social health. Therefore it is imperative to alter the environmental and behavioral factors that expose children to a high risk of obesity while at the same time increasing the factors for preventing it. Intervention efforts for obese children should revolve around controlling food intake and encouraging physical activity (Greydanus et al, 2018). However, parents should be actively involved in the intervention efforts for them to be successful. Furthermore, research reveals that the way parents act and feel in respect to food consumption and physical activity has a significant impact of shaping similar perceptions among their children (Greydanus et al, 2018). Also children should be taught on psychosocial issues such as peer pressure and media that often lure them to making choices on unhealthy foods.
Obese adults on the other hand, should receive psychological interventions. This will help reduce the psychological barriers to maintenance of health behavior change. Research indicates that mostly, psychological interventions for overweight and obese adults are cognitive behaviorally focused. This is because besides the physical implications of obesity, there are psychological ones as discussed. Cognitive behavior therapy is done in three waves. The first wave targets modifying of behavior as well as the consequences for maintaining a positive attitude towards healthy food choices (Murphy et al, 2018). The second wave of cognitive behavior therapy is concerned with modification of behaviors and thoughts. Cognitive therapies at their core target problematic thoughts that propel individuals into indulging in unhealthy behaviors. The final cognitive wave is based on family interventions where obese individuals are counselled on how to remain committed, mindfulness of their weight and mental health, and compassionate. This wave helps with relationships which are often destroyed when people are stigmatized and discriminated against for being obese.
In conclusion, obesity is a big problem that has been a burden to not only the economy of the United States, but also the psychosocial and mental health. As highlighted in the research paper the prevalence of obesity in the United States has remained high for the last four decades. Children and adolescents are particularly affected. However, adults are also at a risk. Also African Americans and Hispanics have been reported to have the highest number of obese cases in the U.S. The major causes of obesity include poor health choices, binge eating, lack of inactivity due to federal lifestyles, and high consumption of fast foods. Genetic factors have also been regarded as a cause of obesity. The psychological implications of obesity include mental issues such as low self-esteem, body image dissatisfaction, depression, and emotional eating. Obesity also results in social stigmatization and discrimination. Ironically, some of the causes of obesity are the implications meaning that obesity is a vicious cycle that may be hard to break. Intervention efforts for children include encouraging physical activity and healthy food choices. Adults on the other hand need cognitive behavioral therapy to help with mental issues stemming from obesity.
References
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