Epidemiology in the News Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Epidemiology in the News Homework - Essay Example The journal article selected for this study is titled â€Å"Childrens eating attitudes and behaviour: a study of the modelling and control theories of parental influence.† The experiential study by Ogden and Brown compares the control theories and models of parents’ influence on the feeding habits and behavior of children. This study particularly focuses on kid’s consumption of snacks. To get conclusive results, the authors designed questionnaires meant to analyze obesity risk factors like eating motivations, snack intake, as well as, body dissatisfaction (Brown & Ogden, 2004). Participating parents were also required to fill in questionnaires with additional aspects relating to the effort they make in regulating their children’s feeding behavior. Another aspect studied during the study, was the parents’ tendency to use food as an instrument for kids’ behavior regulation. The study results indicated that there is a significant connection betw een parents and children, in consideration of snack consumption, feeding motivations and, hence childhood obesity. This article, therefore, places emphasis on the imperative role of modelling that parents should play. All the same, results from the study indicate that negative parental influence is not the sole determinant of obesity, since it must be coupled with other factors like sedentary child lifestyles, lack of exercise and excessive consumption of junk food among other things. The study findings also indicate that a constructive parental model is more effective in facilitating transformation and regulation of obesity, than parents’ attempts to compel children to reduce their food intake (Brown & Ogden, 2004). An article by fine, titled â€Å"Junk food doesn’t make kids fat - junk parents do† posted in an Australian blog The Punch, exaggerates these research findings to an extent of misleading the public. For instance, the article discredits the notion that advertising of food