Childhood obesity: Structural relationships among social environments, children's psychological traits, and behavioral factors

The startling growth in the obesity epidemic facing American children has been a leading public health concern over the past several decades. A considerable body of research has focused on understanding various factors associated with childhood obesity. However, these relationships have often been examined individually without consideration for how these factors could jointly contribute or mitigate the effects of each other. My dissertation research seeks to address this gap by developing and testing a structural model of childhood obesity. Specifically, my dissertation examines structural relationships among various social environments (i.e., family, school and community), children's psychological traits and behavioral factors (i.e., physical activity, TV viewing, and unhealthy eating choices), which influence weight status.;The conceptual framework of my dissertation is drawn from theory of consumer socialization in conjunction with low self-control theory. I analyzed data on fifth graders from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics. Multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) modeling approach was used to test the proposed structural relationships. Findings from my dissertation indicate that family factors and children's self-control have a direct impact on weight status for children from two-parent families. However, only self-control has a direct impact on weight status for children from single-parent families. My dissertation results challenge current intervention programs by providing empirical support of the relative importance of multiple factors contributing to childhood obesity.