Action Competence Obstacles to Managing Childhood Overweight: In-Depth Interviews With Mothers of 7- to 9-Year-Old Children

Brødsgaard, Anne; Wagner, Lis; Peitersen, Birgit; Poulsen, Ingrid

doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2013.02.024

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The complementary bond was further underpinned in findings from an in-depth interview, where the mothers described a great togetherness, a very close, good, loving and harmonious relationship with their children. 33 , 34 In contrast, Schwartz and Puhl report that parents’ negative attitude to overweight children can mean that they communicate stereotypical expectations about weight to their children at home, which affects the children’s self-esteem and may contribute to stigmatization. 35 However, the MOC and MNC with a uniquely complementary mother-child relation generally have a dialogue-based method of bringing up their children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood overweight dependence on mother-child relationship

2014

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The causes of childhood overweight are numerous and inter-related. The mother-child relationship is of great significance for the child’s health. Previous studies have found patterns of dysfunctional interaction in families with obese children. Therefore, development of childhood overweight could be due to the mother-child relationship. The aim of this study was to investigate how, and to what degree, the mother-child relationship, assessed by the mothers, was related to overweight among children aged seven to nine years. The study was a cross sectional case-controlled one. It included 111 overweight and 149 non-overweight seven to nine year old children and their mothers. Weight status was determined according to the International Obesity Task Force reference for children Body Mass Index, age and gender adjusted. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to categorize the mother-child relationship as: complementary, asymmetrical, symmetrical or symbiotic prototypes. There was no difference in mother-child relationships – characterized by the prototypes – between the overweight and non-overweight mother-child pairs. Therefore, we conclude that the mother-child relationship has no bearing on the child’s weight status according to the prototypes. It is suggested that it is more the culture, or the universal phenomenon of expressing love through food, than the mother-child relationship, which influences the development of childhood overweight, or that the mothers are not capable of assess the true attachment style between themselves and their children.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood overweight dependence on mother-child relationship

2014

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“…For example, Lindelof, Nielsen, and Pedersen (2011) focused on social relations in Danish families with overweight teenagers and showed how both parents and teenagers went to great lengths to avoid “stigmatizing situations” (p. 462) from occurring, which in turn hinders a supportive home environment when it comes to the children’s weight loss. In a similar vein, Brødsgaard (2011) pointed out that many Danish mothers—for various reasons—overlooked their children’s overweight, and were thereby free to ignore the problem. Similar findings have been reported in international literature on the subject (e.g., Holt et al, 2008; Kim, Haemer, & Krebs 2008).…”

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Andreassen

Grøn²,

Roessler

2013

Qual Health Res

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In this study we investigated the moral dilemmas and strategies of a group of Danish parents who were trying to help their overweight children lose weight. Data were drawn from repeated semistructured interviews carried out over a period of 2 years with 12 families with overweight children. Using a narrative approach, we show the moral dilemmas parents found themselves in when trying to further the two seemingly incompatible goals of helping their children lose weight and simultaneously strengthening their self-worth. When the children were young, the parents tried to hide the fact that they needed to lose weight to protect them from feeling stigmatized. As the children grew older, the parents became more forthright about weight loss so the children would take on more responsibility. We suggest that for parents, weight loss is experienced as a risky undertaking because they perceive their children's self-worth as being in jeopardy during the process.

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“…The study was a part of a broader descriptive study investigating mothers’ desire and ability to counteract overweight and obesity in their children (Brødsgaard, 2011). Mother–child pairs were initially recruited, when the mothers were pregnant (Olsen et al, 2001), from the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seven- to nine-year-old children’s own assessment of health-related quality of life is important in preventing overweight and obesity

Brødsgaard

Wagner²,

Peitersen

et al. 2014

J Child Health Care

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The aim was to study how, and to what degree, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), as assessed by children and their mothers, was related to overweight and obesity among children aged seven to nine years. Mother-child pairs of 149 non-overweight, 95 overweight and 16 obese children participated. We assessed HRQOL by the children's self-report and parent proxy report module of the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales. We found that non-overweight children scored HRQOL slightly higher than overweight ones but significantly higher than did obese children. The same pattern was seen for the mothers' proxy HRQOL score and mothers in general scored higher than the children did. The results indicate that mothers in general were not sufficiently aware of how overweight and obesity affect their children's HRQOL. The psychosocial dimension of HRQOL was the most important aspect for the children. Thus, there is a need for information of mothers/parents about the impact of overweight and obesity on children's HRQOL. Such intervention by health professionals may among other interventions help to prevent and reduce overweight and obesity among children and thus help to increase the children's HRQOL throughout their lives.

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Action Competence Obstacles to Managing Childhood Overweight: In-Depth Interviews With Mothers of 7- to 9-Year-Old Children

Cited by 6 publications

References 31 publications

Childhood overweight dependence on mother-child relationship

Childhood overweight dependence on mother-child relationship

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Seven- to nine-year-old children’s own assessment of health-related quality of life is important in preventing overweight and obesity

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