Childhood Obesity - Research Paper Example

Childhood Obesity Childhood Obesity Study and Background The research article tries to investigate on the association between several risk factors and childhood obesity risk. Some of these factors include the parental obesity and the socio-economic status of the families. It is believed that having an overweight parent doubles the risk of childhood obesity while obesity in both parents increases the risk of child obesity further. Socio-economic status of the family increases the child obesity risks further due to the behaviors and lifestyles involved (Perry et.al, 2012). With the rising prevalence of child obesity of the age of 9 years across the globe, it is important for researchers to understand all underlying pathways which may be the cause of the child obesity. The study also aims at determining the correlation that exists between the family socio-economic status, parental weight status and childhood obesity for children at the age of 9. Sampling method is the statistical method used in this research. In this method, the sample size was obtained from the study group randomly. Experimental method was used to obtain the required data. The sampling method was used prior to the research where the researchers used it to obtain the sample size for use while the experimental method was used in carrying out the actual survey. STATA Software is the statistical tool used in the statistical analysis. A study sample of 8,568 nine year children growing up in Ireland was used. Initially 1,105 primary schools out of 3200 were selected at random by the use of the sampling method. A random sample of 8,568 children was then obtained from the selected schools. The sample size used is optimal and has high chances of producing accurate results. A complex sampling design has been used as the overall research design for the study. In the study design, interviews were used in data collection where the parents of the selected children were interviewed. The data types used include family socio-economic status indicators, parental weight indictors to determine the prevalence of obese, overweight and normal 9 year old children (Perry et.al, 2012). Statistical methods used Sampling as the statistical method has been used to obtain a sample size from the entire population or from the many schools to be sampled. The experimental method was used in the collection of the data from the sampled size in order to obtain all indicators of obesity in children (Perry et.al, 2012). Descriptive or parametric method of statistical analysis was used in the research. This type of statistical analysis helped the researchers to obtain the required data which is through the description of the observed data. This type of statistical analysis helped the researchers come up with numerical data of weights to determine the obesity indicators. The statistical methods used in the research are not that tiresome and are appropriate for this kind of study, and this is another reason as to why the researchers chose them. These statistical methods are also accurate in terms of the data obtained, and the use of them in research will see to a valid research findings and results. STATA is the statistical tool which has been employed in this study. In this tool, the probability weights were applied using the survey data command in order to account for complex survey design. The researchers chose this the descriptive or parametric method as it helps in the summarization of a sample data. The method also sets descriptive coefficients of the given data which are then used in summarizing the numerical data obtained. The data in this case is numerical since the researchers obtained numerical figures on the risk factor indicators of obesity in children. The tool used also helped the researchers to obtain the social demographic variables required for the study, helped them to perform unadjusted multinomial logistic regression which would then be used to determine the risk of childhood overweight compared to their family’s socio-economic status and parental weight status (Perry et.al, 2012). The descriptive method used in the research helped the researchers come up with four models: Model 1 which includes the social demographic variables as well as the household class, model 2 with adjusted for maternal education, model 3 with further adjusted for household income and model 4 which had fully adjusted for the study of the child’s gender, study child siblings, household income, parent weight status, household class and the highest level of maternal education. The statistical methods used highly contributed to the findings of the research. For example, with the use of the STATA tool, the researchers obtained the single index variable parent weight status through the combination of father’s and mother’s BMI (Perry et.al, 2012). The sampling and the experimental methods used contributed to the sample size and research design hence contributing to the research findings. From the research, a high prevalence of obesity and overweight was found in those children whose mothers were obese or overweight as compared to children whose fathers were obese or overweight. That is, parental weight status was highly associated with childhood obesity and overweight. The univariate regression used in the study indicated that a lower household class and maternal education were highly associated with greater odds of childhood obesity than household income. Evaluation of statistics and recommendations for other statistical methods The statistics and the statistical methods used in the study are perfect for this kind of research. It is through the statistical methods that the researchers were able to obtain the risk of obesity factors in the sampled children like the socio-economic status indicators and parent weight status indicators (Perry et.al, 2012). The statistical methods used in the study enabled the researchers to obtain all the required variables necessary for the analysis of the research problem at hand. The research or the statistical methods used had their share of limitations and strengths in that the researchers were not able to obtain credible results by stating the confidence level and error margin of the research. This is an indication of the appropriateness of the statistical methods used (Perry et.al, 2012). Though the statistical methods used are quite appropriate for this kind of research, the researchers should have also incorporated the use of correlation research method. With this method, they would be able to perform and analyze the kind of correlation which exists between childhood obesity and the risk factors discussed. That is, it would have been better if the researchers identified the dependent and independent variables in the study and the correlation between them. For example, childhood obesity should have been categorized as the dependent factor while the risk factors categorized as independent variables. Childhood obesity would change with the independent variables which makes it a dependent factor. This correlation research method would emphasize further on the variables identified in the study. As a researcher, I would recommend the use of various statistical methods while performing the study as this will help in bringing out the accuracy of the data and to avoid biasness. The use of two or three methods in a study would be recommendable. In this research however, the researchers should have given the readers their margin level of error and the confidence level. This will help the readers to gauge the validity, accuracy and biasness of the research. The time frame for the study should also have been indicated in the study. The researchers have only indicated the age group of the children sampled for the study (Perry et.al, 2012). References Keane E., Layte R., Harrington J., Kearney P.M., & Perry J.I., (2012). Measured Parental Weight Status and Familial Socio-Economic Status Correlates with Childhood Overweight and Obesity at Age 9. PLoS ONE 7(8):E43503. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043503 Read More