Poster Presentation

Research Paper Proposal

Nasser Y Miranda

University of Phoenix

February 25th, 2019

Research Paper Proposal

Research Title/Topic

Main Contributing Factors to the Increased Rate of Childhood Obesity among Caucasian American Children

Introduction

Obesity has become the major nutritional problem that affect children in developed countries. United States has not been exempted from this chronic illness and it is estimated that at least 2 out of 10 children in United States are obese (Ogden et al, 2016). It has been scientifically proven that obesity is a chronic disease that is caused by genetic and environmental factors. This study will look at some of the factors that contribute to obesity among children. There is no statistics that differentiate growth patterns of obesity cases among children and the adults in the country. However, something that is very clear today is that obesity has increased the amount of money United States spend on health because obesity is a risk factor for other diseases like kidney, high-blood pressure among others. Obesity contribute immensely to morbidity and mortality as it is differently linked to most of the diseases that kill most of the people in both developed and developing countries (Zilanawala et al, 2015). The prevalence of obesity has been increasing at an alarming rate and the contributing factors have been linked to the current environmental factors. This study will look at some of the factors that contribute to obesity among children.

Purpose

For a long time now, most of the studies that have been done on child obesity contributing factors have based on different demographics. Income, age, social class, education status and race has been used in this study intensively (Ogden et al, 2016). Although most of the studies have focused on age and race as the controlling variable, there are little studies that focus on the contributing factors of obesity among the Caucasian Americans.

Importance of the study

Several studies that have been done on this topic have focused on the general contributing factors that cause obesity (Zilanawala et al, 2015). However, this study is very important in this line of study as the leading cause of obesity among Caucasian American children will be determined. The study will focus on two major causes of obesity that include lack of physical activities and fast foods.

Literature Review

The current lifestyle of the most of the Caucasian families have resulted to inactiveness among the children. It is estimated that more than 80% of the Caucasian Americans are wealthy and lead a rich life. According to the study that was done by Zilanawala et al (2015), it is very clear that most of the children from wealthy families lead a sedentary lifestyle. They are taken to school by and picked by car which do not give them a chance to walk. Most of the children from rich families spend most of their time watching television, streaming movies among other activities such as playing video games. Much focus among the rich children results to physical inactiveness. According to the study that was done by Fradkin et al (2016), children from rich families spend most of their time on television and playing video games than any other activities apart from sleeping.

In fact, in a study that was done by Williams et al (2015), some children spend more time on social media, video games and watching television than the time they spend sleeping. The authors are of the views that lack of physical activities contribute significantly to obesity among the Caucasian children in United States. Physical inactiveness among the Caucasian American children is also caused by home factors that include parents who are working far from home. In this essence, caretakers that are left with children are likely not to expose children to physical activities as compared to parents and guardians.

It is believed that children are likely to have either or both breakfast and lunch at school. It is also a fact that children’s diet is influenced by the type of food they eat at school (Ogden et al, 2016). School meals may not observe the right child dietary though this does not insinuate that schools offer children food rich in calories. Fast food industry is one of the fastest growing industry in United States. There is no doubt that fast foods have been attributed to existence of foods with high level of calories in United States.

According to the study that was done by Ogden et al (2016), fast foods are the major cause of high rate of obesity among children from rich families. This is caused by several factors that include access to extra money to spend while in school, on the way to-and from school and little time by their parents to prepare a homemade meal. It is believed that children from rich families may have a homemade meal only 3 times in a week as compared to children from low-income families (Ogden et al, 2016). The idea that children from rich families do not eat frequently at home is a fact enough to confirm that they are highly exposed to fast foods and restaurant meals which are very high in calories.

Research Questions and Hypothesis

This study will be guided by the following research questions to ensure that it attains its goals and objectives.

RQ1: What factors contribute to physical inactiveness among Caucasian American children?

RQ2: Why do physical inactiveness cause obesity among children?

RQ3: What is the leading cause of obesity among Caucasian children in United States?

RQ4: Why do excessive consumption of fast food cause obesity?

Hypothesis

Lack of physical inactiveness and other environmental factors are the leading cause of obesity among Caucasian American children.

Null hypothesis

Fast foods are the leading cause of obesity among Caucasian American children.

Methodology

This section of the research paper will provide in brief the tools that will be used to collect data in this research. Data collection will very important in the completion of this study.

Research design

This research will be conducted using mixed methodology that is to say using qualitative and quantitative methods based on the nature of the information that was relied on to synthesize the study results. The study will be done through a review of past studies on the topic through an elaborate literature review, content and information from the news articles and books that have been authored based on this concept (Zilanawala et al, 2015). Primary data will be collected through survey by the use of questionnaires that will be sent using online platform.

Sampling/participants

Sampling will be done based on the topic awareness and legibility of the information that will be presented to the researcher. Participants will be sampled from the target population using simple random technique. The study will use 102 participants to collect primary data

Data collection

Data that will be used in this study will be sampled based on the credibility of the data and information source. This is important consideration as it will contribute to the validity and reliability of the data and information that will be used to complete the study. It is because of this that the study will rely on books, journals, and other federal agencies. Data will be collected through the libraries and through the use of the internet. And primary data will be collected using survey questionnaires.

Data Analysis

The information and data that will be collected from the journals, books and reliable sources that are relevant to this topic of research will be analyzed manually to determine their validity and reliability. The source of the information and data and the authors and custodians of the information and data-informed the validity and reliability. Primary data will be analyzed using SPSS software as it has proven to be the best tool to analyze social science data.

Ethical considerations

The main ethical consideration in this study will be to acquire informed consent from the IRB that will be filled by the participants in the study. The age of the participants will also be another ethical consideration. The questions that will be fielded must also reflect the ethical standards of research.

Discussion

From the preview of literature review in this research proposal, it is very clear that the main contributing factor to obesity among Caucasian American children is lack of physical inactiveness and other environmental factors (Zilanawala et al, 2015). Although fast foods are rather have been attributed as one of the leading cause of obesity among Caucasian children, it is not the leading cause. The main limitations to this study is that the study will be done in a short period which may not be able to consider everything in a study. Secondly, the study was limited to a particular race and age which in return will limit the applicability of the finds of the study to a particular race and age and budget constraints cannot be left out as a limiting factor.

References

Fradkin, C., Wallander, J. L., Elliott, M. N., Cuccaro, P., & Schuster, M. A. (2016). Regular physical activity has differential association with reduced obesity among diverse youth in the United States. Journal of health psychology, 21(8), 1607-1619.

Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Lawman, H. G., Fryar, C. D., Kruszon-Moran, D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2016). Trends in obesity prevalence among children and adolescents in the United States, 1988-1994 through 2013-2014. Jama, 315(21), 2292-2299.

Williams, E. P., Mesidor, M., Winters, K., Dubbert, P. M., & Wyatt, S. B. (2015). Overweight and obesity: prevalence, consequences, and causes of a growing public health problem. Current obesity reports, 4(3), 363-370.

Zilanawala, A., Davis-Kean, P., Nazroo, J., Sacker, A., Simonton, S., & Kelly, Y. (2015). Race/ethnic disparities in early childhood BMI, obesity and overweight in the United Kingdom and United States. International journal of obesity, 39(3), 520.