Parents worry more about drugs than obesity
By Judith Duffy Health Correspondent
THE problem of teenage obesity is of major concern to health experts, but new research has revealed parents are more likely to worry about issues such as alcohol and drugs than their children’s weight.
A study of teenagers and their families in the east of Scotland found that parents were more concerned about whether their children were mixing with the “wrong crowd” than their eating habits.
In many cases they were also too scared to voice any fears about their youngsters’ size in case they triggered anorexia or other eating disorders.
The study, published this month in the journal Social Science And Med icine, highlights the complexity of the childhood obesity timebomb facing Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Parents and youngsters have faced criticism for following unhealthy diets, but there is increasing debate over other factors in the epidemic. American research published last week suggested that Western diets of “addictive” high-calorie foods cause hormonal imbalances that encourage children to overeat.
Dr Wendy Wills, researcher in child and adolescent health at the University of Hertfordshire, said parents appeared to see a “hierarchy” of health risks for teen agers, with weight issues a low priority.
“They [parents] were much more worried about drinking or smoking, or they thought they might be hanging out with a bad crowd, or hanging out in a bad part of the neighbourhood,” she said. “Those things were more important than whether [the teenagers] were overweight or eating too much.”
The research, carried out in conjunction with the University of Edinburgh, involved interviews with teenagers aged 13 and 14, half of whom were overweight, and their parents. Wills said both groups were against the idea of becoming obsessed about size.
“There was a sense that at 13 or 14 the last thing you need is to get hung up about your body and, as they saw it, pushed towards being diagnosed with an eating disorder,” she said. “Even in the families who acknowledged the child was overweight or obese, very few thought anything should be done about it. Most parents thought, ‘Well, he’ll have a growth spurt, it’s puppy fat, he’ll get over it.’”
One mother said she believed talking to young people about their diet would “give them an inferiority complex”. Others spoke about the difficulties of controlling teenage eating habits, saying children eat unhealthy food even when parents modify their diets.
However, Dr Wills cautioned that all those involved in the research were from poor families. Similar work, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, will begin in September to find out the views of middle-class teenagers and their parents.
“It could be that in middle-class families they are more concerned about weight because they are not worried that their kids are out taking drugs on the street corners,” she added.
Lisa Doherty, of The Obesity and Awareness Solutions Trust (Toast), which runs an e-mail helpline for children, said weight issues had to be tackled for health reasons, but that it was often still seen as a taboo subject.
“It is quite understandable that people are concerned about giving their children a complex,” she said. “ If you are a teenager and fat, you don’t fit in society. Then you have your mum or dad or whoever, no matter how well intentioned, on top of that, making it 10 times worse.”
A spokeswoman for helpline Parentline Scotland said parents were more likely to seek help on issues such as behaviour, divorce and bullying rather than weight.
“I would say on the whole there is more concern about immediate rather than long-term issues,” she added.
13 August 2006
Childhood Obesity