Sociological Determinants of Health: Childhood Obesity - Essay Example

Running Head: Health and Sustainability: Childhood Obesity, A National Pandemic. Department Table of Contents page Background and Introduction ………………………………………………………….……3 An Overview of the Health Determinants of Obesity……………………………….……….4 Social-economic Determinants………………………………………………….……………5 Behavioural Determinants…………………………………………………………………….6 Psycho-Social Determinants………………………………………………………………….7 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….8 Refereces………………………………………………………………………………………9 Background and Introduction. Obesity is among the leading lifestyle medical conditions affecting many people across the world. Traditionally obesity was associated with adult individuals who lead sedentary lives especially among the working class. Modern life has seen the trend change significantly and today childhood obesity has reached pandemic levels not only in Australia but globally. It is now a major 21st century public health problem (WHO, 2014). The main medical cause of obesity is the accumulation of abnormally excess fat that results in increased body weight. Statistical estimates by the WHO, show that a total of forty two million children under the age of five years were overweight or actually obese globally as at 2012. In Australia alone statistics as at the year 2008 showed at least one obese child in every four. Things are getting any better and this is a particularly worrisome trend considering the negative health effects both mentally, physically and physiologically. My objective in this paper is to highlight the social determinants of childhood obesity and why the problem is important to modern health systems. Obesity comes with adverse health impacts and such placing a huge economic burden to families as well as healthcare systems. As such therefore, childhood obesity is increasingly becoming an important concern for health not only in Australia but internationally. The problem is a result of various sociological determinants which are interrelated; factors in the environment, family socio-economic factors as well as behavioural elements. There are referred to as sociological health determinants and they revolve around those conditions in which individuals were born, brought and where they live & work. From a broader perspective therefore, they represent elements of people’s social contexts significant to their health outcomes. Grouping the sociological health determinants of Obesity is therefore an important of building of knowledge that will help address the issue in our society. Prevalence, Change Over time and Mortality Rates associated with Childhood Obesity in Australia. According to the Australian Institute of Statistics, childhood obesity is on the rise and this is particularly because of intake of foods high on fats and sugars, and having less time for physical exercise. Research shows that children who become overweight or obese have an increase likelihood of staying obese into their adulthood and developing associated medical conditions such as cardiovascular conditions and type 2 diabetes. In the year 2008 alone the problem of obesity cost Australia a whopping $ 58 billion in terms of health services, work & productivity costs. Over the period 2007-2007, ¼ of all children in Australia in the bracket of 5-17 years of age were found to be either overweight or obese. This represents a 4% rise as compared to the statistics of 1995. The proportion of overweight boys stagnated at 16% but those actually obese rose by double digits i.e. 5% in the 1995 and 10% over 2007/2008. Obesity in boys of age 5-12 went upwards by 4% to hit 8% while in older boys obesity rose from 6% to 13%. Among girls there was no significant change among the obese. However, an increase was recorded in the overweight; those of age 13-17 overweight went from 12% as at 1995 to stand at 20% over the period 2007/2008. The proportion of overweight girls below 12 years remained at 17% over the periods. Overall as at 2008 19% of Australian children above the age of 12 were overweight and 9% of them obese while for younger ones a total of 16% were overweight and &% obese. An Overview of the Health Determinants of Obesity. There is no doubt that obesity and childhood obesity particularly a problem associated with the modern way of life. Improved living standards means there is enough food for children but at the same time poor eating habits are on the rise. Modern parents especially the working ones have less time to spend with their children and therefore most of the time children are feeding on snacks, and fast foods which are notoriously high in fat and sugar content. Modernity has also presented another health risk as many children especially in urban settings are leading lives that are largely inactive by oscillating between school and the house. They have limited to time for physical exercise and time is available the space may not even be available. Environmental factors are therefore largely to blame for rise in childhood obesity to pandemic levels. The framework for determinants of health identifies socio-ecological, Behavioural and psycho-social classes of health determinants relevant to the rise of childhood obesity. Socio-Ecological determinants. This class of obesity health determinants encompasses the broad societal feathers, the environment, socio-economic characteristics and access to basic services. They are factors in the environment in which children live and grow and these have significantly contributed to the rising levels of childhood obesity in Australia and the entire world. Societal changes, economic growth and other aspects of modern life are playing an important role in the child obesity pandemic. Culture for instance has evolved over time and poor eating habits are on the rise. Modern parents are not inculcating healthy eating habits in their children and this increases the risk for becoming overweight. The modern world environment does not support a healthy life; separation between parents is heightened by the increasing cost of life which forces parents to spent most of their time working while children are left on their own. Socio-economic characteristics also play a major role in the increase of childhood obesity. With many children especially from affluent families going to boarding schools are at least spending most of their days at school comes an increased risk for obesity. Many parents for instance give packed lunch to their children or give me pocket money with which to purchase fast food in the canteens during lunch hour. This is tantamount to submitting children to business persons who do not care about their health and therefore would sell them anything requested. School meals are also not well balanced considering the budgetary constraints. Children are therefore consuming excessive fats and as a consequence of the modern life environment. Political structures and social inclusion are important socio-ecological determinants of obesity. The fact that the society is divided into classes of the affluent, middle class and peasants means inequality is persistent and this affects access to basic services. It also adversely impacts on education attainment and therefore access to health information. According to the PC (2010), those children living and coming from low socio-economic situations are at a higher risk of becoming overweight or developing obesity. Australian children from poor socio-economic backgrounds have a 1.7 higher risk for obesity when compared to their counterparts in middle and high-class. According to (Singh et al, 2010), children living in low SES suburbs have higher obesity rates than those in the middle & high SES. Behavioural Determinants. Individual health behaviour is also very important in demining childhood obesity. Parenting still remains as a constant as parents have the responsibility of teaching healthy eating habits to their children. Unfortunately the modern economy places a huge responsibility on parents to fetch for their families and as such most of the time children are on their own or in the hands of caregivers who do not instil healthy eating habits. Consumption is therefore an important determinant of childhood obesity as the fast foods which are high on sugar and fat have gained a lot of popularity in the modern economy. Children that are given money to purchase lunch in the school canteens for instance may not make good consumption choices. Chances that a child will go for fast food are higher and this means dietary behaviour is playing a role in the increasing childhood obesity in Australia. According to the World Health Organisation (2014) fatty diets and lack of physical activity are risk factors for childhood obesity both independently and when unified. This is because the body accumulates excessive fats when energy from foods and drinks exceeds what the body expends to physical activity. Furthermore as the children progress in age, they physical activity levels decrease, with sedentary lives elevating. They begin spending more time on television, sitting on computers and playing video games. While the sedentary behaviour takes the time for physical activity it also increases food intake as a substitute for exercise (Vazquez & Torres, 2012). The media also plays a role in influencing unhealthy eating habits among children; heavy adverts for fast food increase the need for taking the foods. Behavioural determinants such as unhealthy eating, leading sedentary lives and lack of physical activity therefore contribute significantly to the childhood obesity pandemic. Psycho- Social Determinants. Another important group of determinants for obesity in Australian children has to do with the psycho-social factors. These factors include increased stress that comes with modern life, depression, social support attachment, isolation, coping strategies and self-esteem. Isolation is common in modern life and it occurs not only between children and their parents and between parents as well as children and their siblings. The separation means children lack proper parental support and therefore guidance on healthy eating habits. It is common for children to prefer foods that are sweet and fatty and hence where little parental guidance is given it becomes obvious that unhealthy eating will prevail. The levels of isolation as well as the educational demands combine to cause stress and depression in children which in turn causes tend towards unhealthy eating habits. Stress could be also a factor especially among children from low socio-economic backgrounds who have to endure a lot of difficulties and at the same time struggle with studies. It leads to burnout and eventually poor eating habits as well as lives. With increased stress and depression children will definitely not engage in physical activities will not care about their healthy. The result is that such children eating just anything without considering the health repercussions and without little guidance they continue with undesirable eating behaviour. Stress and depression also affects the mental stability of children and may cause them to stay indoors at the expense of physical exercise. Conclusion In conclusion therefore childhood obesity is on the upward trend internationally and in Australia it will soon be a pandemic unless something is done. A number of reasons explain the rising levels of childhood obesity in Australia. Factors in the environment such as lack of enough physical activity, poor eating habits, socio-economic status and behavioural factors play a role. Dietary factors such increased consumption of fast foods that are high on fat and sugar at the expense of fresh and nutritious food. As much as genetics and biomedical factors are important in obesity, they do not occur in isolation. There are also social determinants of health playing the role of escalating the situations. These fall into the broad categories of socio-economic, behavioural, and psycho-social health determinants of obesity. References. 1. 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