Differences between European Americans and African Americans in the Association between Child Obesity and Disrupted Parenting

Bibliographic Data

ID7841988
AuthorsLeslie Gordon Simons (0000-0001-8962-7456, University of Georgia), Ellen M Granberg (Clemson University), Ellen Granberg (Clemson University), Yi-Fu Chen (University of Georgia), Yi‐fu Chen (0000-0002-1425-0145, University of Georgia), R L Simons (0000-0002-4902-0462, University of Georgia), Rand D Conger (University of California, Davis), Fredrick X Gibbons (Iowa State University), Gene H Brody (0000-0002-2244-6797, University of Georgia), Gene R Brody (University of Georgia), Velma Mcbride Murry (0000-0003-2663-2738, University of Georgia)
Year2008
Volume39
Issue4
Pages589-610
Publication date2008-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Comparative Family Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2328 • E-ISSN: 1929-9850
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/jcfs.39.4.589
PMID21566673
OpenAlexW2232838879
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited34

Given the dominant culture’s emphasis upon being thin in the United States, we investigated the hypothesis that obesity is a childhood characteristic that has a disruptive effect upon the parenting of European American parents. Past research suggests, however, that the African American community is less concerned about issues of being overweight, and therefore child obesity was expected to have less impact upon the parenting practices of African American mothers and fathers. Therefore, we did not expect to find a relationship between quality of parenting and child’s obesity for African American parents. These hypotheses were tested using two samples: the first was comprised of approximately 847 European American families, and second consisted of 867African American families. The findings supported the hypotheses. Our analyses showed the predicted negative association between child’s weight and the parenting of European American mothers and fathers whereas there was no such relationship for African Americans parents. These results were largely consistent across four dimensions of parenting (warmth, monitoring, inductive reasoning, and problem solving), and held for both daughters and sons

African american · Association (psychology) · Child obesity · Child rearing · Childhood obesity · Conger · Developmental psychology · Dysfunctional family · Obesity · Overweight · Sociology · Stressor · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Demography · Early Childhood Education and Development · Eating Disorders and Behaviors · Medicine · Obesity and Health Practices · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet · Psychology

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