Annotated Bibliography
Dehghan, M., Danesh, N.A., & Merchant, A.T. (2005). Childhood obesity, prevalence, and
prevention. Nutrition Journal , 4 (24) Retrieved from
https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-4-24
This source presents a broader perspective and understanding of the global prevalence of obesity as well as the mechanisms of its development. It also explores the cultural environment, lifestyle preferences and environmental factors linked overweight and obesity.
Kubik, M. Y., Gurvich, O. V., & Fulkerson, J. A. (2017). Association Between Parent
Television-Viewing Practices and Setting Rules to Limit the Television-Viewing
Time of Their 8- to 12-Year-Old Children, Minnesota, 2011–2015. Preventing
Chronic Disease , 14 , E06. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5268793/
This source explores the impacts of restricting the duration of time spent on viewing television on the reduction of lifestyle medical conditions such as obesity among children aged between eight and twelve years.
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Pérez, A., Hoelscher, D. M., Springer, A. E., Brown, H. S., Kelder, S. H., Barroso, C. S., &
Castrucci, B. C. (2011). Physical Activity, Watching Television, and the Risk of
Obesity in Students, Texas, 2004-2005. Preventing Chronic Disease , 8 (3), A61.
Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3103566/
This source presents information regarding a study carried to determine the relationship between watching television and obesity as well as the role played by physical activity in eliminating the risk of obesity among students.
Vandewater, E.A., Park, S.E., Hébert, E.T., & Cummings, H.M. (2015). Time with friends
and physical activity as mechanisms linking obesity and television viewing among
youth. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity , 12 (1), S6.
Retrieved from https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-12-S1
S6
This source documents the outcomes and findings of a study investigating the existing relationship between television viewing and obesity among youth. Moreover, the authors interrogate the various mechanisms that contribute to the existence of this relationship.
Whitaker, M.D., Wright, M.D., Margaret S. P., Kristy D., Seidel, M.S., & William H. D.
(2007). Predicting Obesity in Young Adulthood from Childhood and Parental
Obesity. The New England Journal of Medicine , 1(25) Retrieved from
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199709253371301#t=abstract
This source examines the level at which obesity during childhood increases the risk of obesity during adulthood as well as the contributing factors such as television viewing among adults and children.
Literature Review
Increased television content has led to profound changes to the manner in which leisure time is spent among individuals across the globe in both developed and developing countries. While there has been an increase in the number of people accessing and watching television in many countries around the world, there are prevalent associated cases of snacking and a considerable reduction in physical activity forms of leisure. Hypokinetic conditions such as poor physical fitness and obesity continue to dominate the lifestyle complications that people in the world today have to deal with. Dehghan et al. (2015) investigated the relationship between television viewing as a form of leisure activity and various kinds of physical in young people and found that there was a strong association between increased levels of television viewing and low scores of physical fitness. Similarly, further studies on this subject have been able to establish that rapid increase in cases of obesity among children below the age of eleven years was linked to excessive television viewing during leisure time. The findings made by Whitaker et al. (2007) showed that the duration spent on television viewing had a direct relationship with the levels of obesity in both children and adults.
According to Vandewater et al. (2015), television viewing is primarily a sedentary behavior in children that contribute significantly to obesity. The changes experiences with the regard to the manner in which the viewing of television happens are not easily measured with accuracy. There has been a considerable increase in the time allocated for television viewing among children and adults in the recent past. This increasing trend largely attributable to the introduction of additional gadgets and platforms through which viewing of television can easily be done such as smartphones, computers, and tablets among others. The consideration of prevalence of obesity indicates that approximately twenty percent of the global population is suffering from obesity. As such, obesity is regarded as one of the diseases brought about by the present level of civilization and nature of lifestyle among children and adults. The epidemic status associated with obesity in countries that are more industrialized has continued to raise serious social and health concerns.
In the last three decades, many countries around the world have been able to experience a significant in the number of people who are obese. 55% to 65% of people in developed countries are obese or overweight, which implies that about only one-third of the total population in such countries has their body weight classified as being normal. According to the findings by the world health organization, obesity is classified as the top ten critical risks factors that are associated with causing more deaths around the world. To that extent, obesity has been declared as one of the chronic conditions that require effective treatment since it could lead to the development of other medical conditions that increase rates of mortality ( Dehghan et al., 2015). The duration spent in watching television and the television content watched could be associated with the development of obesity among individuals, especially children. Watching television for long amounts of time does not just lead to physical inactivity. Additionally, the presence of other programs including commercial ads associated with food encourages excessive eating habits. Through television viewing, children are deprived of critical time that would have been spent on physical activities. While in front of a television set, individuals especially children tend to take increased snacks, which represent an increased energy intake. Whitaker et al. (2007) observe that these habits such as prolonged sitting in front of a television, commercial adverts about unhealthy foods on television as well as increased intake of snacks fundamentally demonstrate that there is a strong link between television and obesity.
Previous studies as described by Pérez et al. (2011) have indicated that there exists a strong and positive correlation between eating associated with television watching and cases of obesity. Moreover, the effects of viewing television on the level of food intake go beyond the time of television viewing and include consumption even after viewing. This implies that the time spent on viewing television could be associated with unhealthy eating habits among children as well as adults. Vandewater et al. (2015) found that children who use most of their time in viewing television had little or no time to engage in other activities that required physical input and participation. Further, the finding agreed that significant portion of the advertisement content viewed by children on television aimed at increasing their food intake for commercial gains. Obesity is identified through the determination body mass index (BMI). In determining the body mass index of an individual, his or her height and weight are measured by dividing the weight by the square of the height. People whose body mass index goes beyond the range of twenty-five to thirty kilograms per square meter are considered obese. Individuals’ height and weight are checked against the international standards to establish the meaningful assessment of the rate of growth across various countries. Whereas body mass index gives a quick and standardized way of establishing people who may be suffering from obesity, it is usually recommended the accurate determination of obesity should consider several other parameters influencing growth such as genetic factors. In addition to weight and height, the mid-calf circumference, mid-upper-arm circumference, and the skinfold thickness are important considerations in determining whether an individual is obese ( Pérez et al., 2011).
Global statistics on the subject of obesity indicate a worrying trend, especially among children. Studies carried out in both developing and developed countries have found an increasing number of individuals who are considered obese over the last couple of years. Obesity remains a worrying condition since cases of early obesity in children could predispose them to medical and health conditions such as type II diabetes and cardiovascular disorder. In addition, previous studies have been able to demonstrate a link between cases of obesity in children and the experience low self-esteem as they continue to grow and develop ( Dehghan et al., 2015). Parallel to an increasing trend of cases of obesity development among individuals especially is a growing pursuit television and other electronic forms of leisure. Pérez et al. (2011) observe that television viewing among individuals of different ages is a low-level involvement. As such, such a form of leisure should not be encouraged at the expense of other forms of physical leisure. In some countries, the social context defines the nature of forms of leisure embraced by children right from the children as they grow to become adults. Whereas some researchers have attempted to investigate the existing link between the duration spent on television viewing and playing of computer games, the majority of studies conducted were more concerned with adverse health effects arising from an increased frequency of television viewing ( Whitaker et al., 2007).
Recently, researchers have been able to reveal that children suffering from obesity who also view food commercial ads on television have more than half of the food they eat comprising of unhealthy food such as ice cream, sweets, and chips as well as several other fast-food products with very low nutritional value. More than 90% of commercial advert contents associated with food focus on promoting the eating and taking of sweet drinks, sweets, and fast food despite several warning and cautions issued against them by various consumer and health organizations. Although there is a higher susceptibility of children to other medical conditions such as lesions because of the long duration of television viewing, cases of obesity and associated complications affect adults alongside children. Recent findings indicated that every one hour of increased television viewing could be resulting in close to 8% chance of suffering from coronary heart diseases, which are largely associated with overweight and obesity conditions ( Vandewater et al., 2015). Other studies have placed more emphasis on the argument that sedentary behaviors such as excessive viewing of television are linked to high risks of obesity in comparison to other sedentary activities driving or reading since television viewing significantly contributes to a reduction in the rate of metabolism hence high rate of obesity development. Furthermore, excessive viewing of television is linked to several other diseases associated with risk factors such as symptoms of depression and poor diet among others. The argument by most researchers is that spending too much time on watching television also raises the risk of suffering from chronic diseases associated with being overweight among children as well as adults. This finding is supported by a health study that established that individuals who spent more than two hours each day watching television had twenty percent increased risk suffering from obesity and fifteen percent increased the risk of suffering diabetes ( Kubik et al., 2017).
Hypothesis
A considerable strong relationship exists between viewing of televisions and case of obesity in both children and adults.
Research Objectives
Determine whether prolonged viewing of television could displace physical leisure activities
Investigate whether prolonged viewing of television could be a reflection of a sedentary lifestyle among individuals
Determine whether prolonged viewing of television could provide a context for unhealthy eating habits
Investigate whether prolonged viewing of television could increase exposure to commercial adverts that encourage eating and drinking of unhealthy foods and drinks
Methods
Research design
The research design in the study will focus on carrying out surveys as a way of testing the stated hypothesis. However, experimental research activities will also be carried out whenever a need arises especially in situations involving children participants. In that regard, the experimental activities will be performed to such participants with the aim of accurately measuring their heights and weights to compute their respective body mass indices. As such, the research design adopted in this study is expected to provide a blueprint that will be useful in facilitating the objectives of the study within a reasonable control of the factors that are likely to influence the validity and reliability of the findings. The surveys in this study will be aimed at gathering data from the participants regarding their weights and height as well as information regarding their television viewing habits and eating habits. In this case, the television viewing habits to be interrogated will include the average number of hours spent by the participants while viewing television in a day. Moreover, the participants will be required to give information regarding their consumption of unhealthy foods such as fast foods and sugary substances and the inspiration behind such consumption.
Target sample and participants
The target sample for this study will involve 120 participants (both children and adults) distributed across major cities in the United States. The demographic requirement for the participants selected in this study will be those residing in urban areas. The recruiting procedure will involve:
Enquiring whether a participant resides with a city
Finding out whether he or she has accessibility to a television
Establishing whether the participants are willing to disclose information about their weight, height, and duration of time they spend watching television in a day
Seeking consent from the adult participants as well as from the teachers, parents or guardians of children participants
Instruments
The proposed instruments in this study will focus on the proposed survey methodology of acquiring and gathering data. The survey will be done by carrying out telephone interviews where the interview will be documenting the information acquired from the respondent through the telephone. A large number of targeted participants who are widely distributed across diverse topographies and regions informs the choice of telephone interviews in this study as opposed to face-to-face interviews. Moreover, telephone connection and communication as a means of gathering data in this study will be faster and cheaper in comparison to face-to-face interviews. The researcher will also be in a better position seek for clarification wherever there is need and document the correct information upon satisfaction with the responses given by the respondents. The sample items for the proposed survey in this study will as follows:
Age: (5 to 11) years (12 to 18) years (above 18) years
Height in meters
Weight in kilograms
Computed body mass index (BMI)
Accessibility to a television set: (own) (family’s) (friends)
An average number of hours spent while watching television in a day:
Tendency of taking snacks while watching television: (Very likely) (Somewhat likely) (Neutral) (Somewhat unlikely) (Very unlikely)
Tendency of taking part in physical leisure activities: (Very likely) (Somewhat likely) (Neutral) (Somewhat unlikely) (Very unlikely)
Rate of taking fast foods, sugary foods or drinks: (Very infrequently) (Infrequently) (Frequently) (Very frequently) (Do not take)
Connection between television viewing habits and eating habits: (Very weak) (Weak) (Strong) ( Very Strong)(No connection)
Procedures
In this study, the required data will be collected and gathered through carrying out through survey and telephone interview. In this case, the following procedure will be used in gathering the necessary data and information:
The researcher will begin by identifying the various regions from which the participants will be contacted
The participants will be identified (those that meet the requirements for being participants in this study as stated under the section of target sample and participants)
The acquisition of informed consent will do by formally writing to adult participants as well as the guardians, teachers or parents of children participants. At this point, the participants will be made aware of the important steps and precautions put in place by the researcher to ensure that all information provided by the respondents remains confidential and is only meant for carrying out this study.
The survey and telephone questionnaire will be designed and drafted with the consideration of the items enumerated in the instruments section
Upon receiving informed consent from the participants, the researcher will start contacting them with the aim of acquiring and gathering the necessary data and information
Where necessary and possible the participants will be requested to appear in a laboratory setting for ease and precision of the data acquisition exercise
The acquired data and information will be recorded down in separate forms for each participant in this study
The above steps will be repeated until all the intended information is acquired from the targeted participants
Body mass index will be computed using the measurements for weight and height acquired from the respective participants
Then the information and data gathered from all the participants will be subjected both qualitative and quantitative analysis before carrying out discussion and drawing the necessary conclusion with regard to the hypothesis being tested in this study
Conclusion
This proposed study is expected to make significant and unique contributions to the field of psychology in the sense that it will be able to demonstrate clear instances where lifestyle and social activities play a major role in causing are advancing certain medical conditions. Moreover, professionals and practitioners in the fields of fields of psychology and healthcare would have a broader understanding of preventive measures for conditions of obesity based on the findings of this study. Some of the potential limitations that this study may encounter include methodological shortfalls that are often associated with studies of this nature such as communication barrier and obtaining inaccurate information. Additionally, some of the respondents may fail to cooperate with the research as expected due to suspicion or misunderstanding thus subjected the researcher to unexpected hostility during the process of research. The overall effect of this situation would be unreliability of the information gathered from the respondents thus causing the researcher to draw conclusions that are not accurate.
It would be appropriate for future research concerned with the areas covered in this study to focus on studying and coming up with preventive as well as curative measures for the prevalent cases of obesity as well as the manner in which the main contributing factors can be mitigated. Furthermore, future research in this particular area of study should put more emphasis on sophisticated and effective ways of data and information gathering to aid in drawing conclusions that are accurately reflective of the reality or the actual state of affairs. Considering the seriousness of the dangers associated with obesity in the contemporary world, future studies should also attempt to address the appropriate measures that should be embraced as a way of addressing poor eating habits and well as risky behaviors such as excessive television viewing without creating time to engage in physical activities.
References
Dehghan, M., Danesh, N.A., & Merchant, A.T. (2005). Childhood obesity, prevalence, and
prevention. Nutrition Journal , 4 (24) Retrieved from
https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-4-24
Kubik, M. Y., Gurvich, O. V., & Fulkerson, J. A. (2017). Association Between Parent
Television-Viewing Practices and Setting Rules to Limit the Television-Viewing
Time of Their 8- to 12-Year-Old Children, Minnesota, 2011–2015. Preventing
Chronic Disease , 14 , E06. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5268793/
Pérez, A., Hoelscher, D. M., Springer, A. E., Brown, H. S., Kelder, S. H., Barroso, C. S., &
Castrucci, B. C. (2011). Physical Activity, Watching Television, and the Risk of
Obesity in Students, Texas, 2004-2005. Preventing Chronic Disease , 8 (3), A61.
Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3103566/
Vandewater, E.A., Park, S.E., Hébert, E.T., & Cummings, H.M. (2015). Time with friends
and physical activity as mechanisms linking obesity and television viewing among
youth. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity , 12 (1), S6.
Retrieved from https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-12-S1-S6
Whitaker, M.D., Wright, M.D., Margaret S. P., Kristy D., Seidel, M.S., & William H. D.
(2007). Predicting Obesity in Young Adulthood from Childhood and Parental
Obesity. The New England Journal of Medicine , 1(25) Retrieved from
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199709253371301#t=abstract
