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Childhood obesity: The family perspective
Author(s) -
Loader Peter J.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/1098-108x(198505)4:2<211::aid-eat2260040208>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , childhood obesity , obesity , psychology , focus (optics) , developmental psychology , unit (ring theory) , social psychology , medicine , computer science , physics , mathematics education , overweight , artificial intelligence , optics
Childhood obesity remains a poorly understood condition which is difficult to modify. Most investigations and explanations of obesity adopt a biological, psychological, or sociological perspective, with little attention being paid to the family. The work that has been done in this area tends to be based on clinical impression rather than systematic enquiry, and to focus on the mother‐child relationship rather than on the family as a whole. This latter approach, where the family is the basic unit of study, has proved useful in our understanding and treatment of several disorders that can be compared to obesity. This paper argues that the relative absence of family studies constitutes a significant gap in our investigation of childhood obesity. Such studies need to be carried out, but they should also be part of a more holistic approach to the problem, which seeks to make links between the observations made at several different levels of enquiry.