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Source: Ecology of Obesity Conference
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Kreipe, Richard |
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Youth and Obesity Presented: Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, College of Human Ecology, Ecology of Obesity Conference, June 2005 Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Publisher: College of Human Ecology, Cornell University Keyword(s): Obesity; Physical Activity (see also Exercise); Racial Differences; Self-Regulation/Self-Control; Weight Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher. [Kreipe] noted that the top two public health issues of major concern to the nation are declining physical activity and increasing overweight or obesity, as outlined by Healthy People 2010, the national public health framework designed to identify the most significant health threats to Americans and to establish national goals to reduce those threats. Physical activity and overweight/obesity are also the World Health Organization's number one and two health indicators. There has been an "epidemic increase," Kreipe said, in overweight children, according to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, conducted over a 12-year period from 1986 to 1998. The study found that all racial groups experienced increasing rates of obesity. The study examined physical activity in 2,400 girls (half of them African American, half Caucasian), and found a decline in physical activity in 100 percent of African American girls and 56 percent of Caucasian girls. By the age of 16 and 17, there was no habitual leisure physical activity in 56 percent of African American girls and 31 percent of Caucasian girls. This is "very concerning to us all," Kreipe said. Kreipe pointed to several developmental issues that relate to adolescent obesity. First, while the onset of puberty has always been considered age 11 in most girls, now the average age for the onset of breast development in girls has dropped to age 8 or 9, which Kreipe attributes primarily to increased nutrition, although there may be other environmental causes as well. Second, obesity may change how adolescents grapple with autonomy: issues of self-control, readiness to change, and their relationships with parents and other authority figures. That is, being larger may give some adolescents a physical advantage over their peers and may make them more likely to challenge adults. |
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Bibliography Citation
Kreipe, Richard. "Youth and Obesity." Presented: Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, College of Human Ecology, Ecology of Obesity Conference, June 2005. |