Family interactions about weight and health take place against the backdrop of the wider social discourse relating to the obesity epidemic. Parents (and children) negotiate complex and often contradictory messages in constructing a set of beliefs and practices around obesity and weight management. Despite this, very little research attention has been given to the nature of family-unit discourse on the subject of body weight and it's potential influence on the weight-related behaviours of family members. This includes the broad influence that dominant socio-cultural discourses have on family conceptualisations of weight and health. Using in-depth qualitative interviews with 150 family 'groups' comprised of at least one parent and one child in Victoria and South Australia, we explored how parents and children conceptualise and discuss issues of weight- and health-related lifestyle behaviours. Data were analysed using Attride-Stirling's (2001) thematic network approach. Three thematic clusters emerged from the analysis. First, both parents and children perceived that weight was the primary indicator of health. However, parents focused on the negative physical implications of overweight while children focused on the negative social implications. Second, weight and lifestyle choices were highly moralised. Parents saw it as their responsibility to communicate to children the 'dangers' of fatness. Children reported that parents typically used negatively-framed messages and scare tactics rather than positively-framed messages to encourage healthy behaviours. Third was the perception among parents and children that if you were thin, then eating habits and exercise were less important, and that activity could provide an antidote to food choices. Results suggest that both parents and children are internalising messages relating to obesity and weight management that focus on personal responsibility and blame attribution. These views reflect the broader societal discourse, and their consolidation at the family level is likely to increase their potency and make them resistant to change.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.08.024 | DOI Listing |
J Autism Dev Disord
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Sarr Autism Rotterdam, Youz Child- and Adolescent Psychiatry, Parnassia Group, Dynamostraat 18, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Center for Economic and Social Research, Arts and Sciences, Dornsife College of Letters, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
Home visiting programs (HVPs) provide services to pregnant individuals and parents of young children to improve families' health and well-being. However, little is known about these families' social contexts. This study explores the social networks and dietary intake of mothers enrolled in a HVP, focusing on health support and health undermining.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRes Child Adolesc Psychopathol
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Department of Psychology, University of South Dakota, 414 East Clark Street, Vermillion, SD, USA.
Youth with complex health needs (CHNs; e.g., requiring daily assistance or equipment for care) and their parents face heightened vulnerabilities during natural disasters, potentially leading to poorer mental health outcomes compared to those without CHNs.
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The Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK.
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January 2025
Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Although positive coparenting, or how parents relate during childrearing, is known to support children's socioemotional development, the role of coparenting in supporting children's healthy eating and growth is poorly understood. This study examined associations between coparenting quality, the home food environment, and young children's body mass index (BMI). Cross-sectional data were obtained from 290 mothers and their 3-year-old children who participated in the Sprout study.
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