Obese and overweight Hispanic children are a direct consequence of a low Socioeconomic Status.
A famous American chef, Tom Colicchio, once said: “This is what people don 't understand: obesity is a symptom of poverty. It 's not a lifestyle choice where people are just eating and not exercising. It 's because kids - and this is the problem with school lunch right now - are getting sugar, fat, empty calories - lots of calories - but no nutrition” . On the other hand, a socioeconomic status, according to the dictionary is “An individual 's or group 's position within a hierarchical social structure. Socioeconomic status depends on a combination of variables, including occupation, education, income, wealth, and place of residence” .
But, what is poverty and what does it have to do with a low socioeconomic status (SES)?
Poverty is nothing more than the origin of a low SES, “Families with low socioeconomic status often lack the financial, social, and educational supports that characterize families with high socioeconomic status. Poor families also may have inadequate or limited access to community resources that promote and support children 's development and school readiness. Parents may have inadequate skills for such activities as reading to and with their children, and they may lack information about childhood immunizations and nutrition”
Hispanic, specially “ Mexican – Americans, the most common sub group of Hispanics in the U.S., have among the highest rates of childhood
Hispanic children in general did not participate as much in a team sport as their peers of other ethnicities, and Hispanic overweight children also did not reach a proper level of physical activity in comparison to obese white children. The environment plays a vital role when it comes to the well-being of a child, so it comes as no surprise that the socioeconomic status (SES) of the parents attributes to the quality and quantity of the participant's diet. While the connection between physical activity, food and weight is widely known, another aspect such as acculturation was chosen in an effort to explain a lesser known influence on obesity in Latino children. There is much more information available about obesity in Latino adults and adolescents, nevertheless there were several studies pertaining to the relation between acculturation and obesity in Hispanic children that were not sufficient enough as they could not prove that acculturation and obesity in Latino children have a significant relation to each other. The hypotheses appears to be that the more acculturated
The Hispanic cultures view on obesity or having a fuller and heavier child differs from an American’s perspective. Like many cultures around the world, hefty version of themselves is a sign of wealth and opulence. This belief is passed down to their children. Hispanic and Latino mothers believe a heavier child is a good idea and it shows healthy development. “Culture can influence the perception of risk associated with obesity. Studies of Latinos have found that many mothers of obese children believe their child to be healthy and are unconcerned about their child's weight, although these same parents are likely to believe that obese children in general should be taken to a nutritionist or physician for help with weight reduction.” (Caprio
In the past several decades and according to the State of Obesity “38.9 % of children ages 2-19 are obese in the Latino culture.” The rates of severe obesity are higher amongst these children compared to the White American children.
This study was designed to investigate the problem of childhood obesity among African-American and Hispanic-American families in a rural school district in southeast Texas.
established the National Latino Childhood Obesity Research Agenda in response to the Latino childhood obesity crisis in the U.S. This group identified the Latino family as the most important factor in preventing childhood obesity among their children, followed by the community, school, and society. The CDC Youth Media Campaign Longitudinal Survey (YMCLS) reported that 61.5% of Latino children aged 9–13 years did not participate in organized physical activity during non-school hours (Torres, Meetze, & Smithwick-Leone, 2013).
Poverty refers to the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support. Society often classifies this state as being poor. According to osomething.org 805 million people worldwide do not have enough food to eat, and nearly ½ of the world 's population lives on less than 2.50 dollars a day. Osomething.org states that 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty on less than 1.25 a day, 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty, and 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. These statistics are rather alarming, and the first step to finding a solution to this problem is determining the root cause. Many would ask how this transpired. The answer to this is also the determining factor of not only what happened but
Obesity is a chronic disease that eventually threatens the life of a child. It has become common today to observe the alarming exponential growth in childhood obesity in the U.S. As an illustration, in California, obesity has become more noticeable in Latino children than in other cultural groups. (Tung & McDonough, 2014). Although maintaining a healthy weight may seem insignificant for some Latino families, it is in effect essential in terms of today’s concern over the health of Latino children. Unfortunately, child obesity is a combination of different elements: junk-food and high- calorie diets, sedentary lifestyle, “super-size” portions, marketing of junk food, and finally, negligence of families and schools. As a matter of fact, Latinos are the largest ethnic group in California. According to the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that in 2014, 38.6% of the total population in California are Latinos, and the largest minority group in the U.S. (Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, 2014). In addition, Statistics reveal that 40% of Latino children in California are overweight (Falbe, Cadiz, Tantoco, Thomson, & Madsen. 2015). The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) results suggest that Hispanic children and youth were the ethnic group at the highest risk of being overweight in California (Weiss, Yepa, Mouttapa, McMahan, & Gedissman, 2015). For that reason, it is vital to address the serious public health
Poverty is a situation in which income is inadequate to provide for basic needs such as food, shelter, medical care, and clothing. Poverty has been a problem for societies since the beginning of time.
Poverty is a hard concept for people to put into words. Ruby Payne states a working definition of poverty in her book A Framework for Understanding Poverty in which she says, “The extent to which an individual does without resources” (7). For a better look, the dictionary defines poverty as “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions”
Socioeconomic status is a term used to weigh up a person’s/family social and economic standing. This status is determined by factors such as income, education, occupation and social environment (Leary, 2007). A person’s socioeconomic status can fluctuate over time depending on the person improving their life choices or by making poor life choices.
Poverty: To me, my understanding of the term 'Poverty' is when people in our society and communities are extremely poor. Poverty is when people do not have
Poverty is “about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter”(what is poverty, 2009). Everybody might know this meaning and the problem.
Families besides providing for the basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothes for their children, they also pass on cultural and educational values onto their children. According to the American Psychological Association, an important factor in poverty is a family’s socioeconomic status (SES) is often measured as a combination of education, income, and occupation. It is commonly thought of as the social position or class of an individual or group. Socioeconomic status in families is a key factor that influences quality of life for young children and their families. Low socioeconomic status is linked with lower education, poverty, and poor health. Proven studies show that low socioeconomic status is connected with higher levels of emotional, behavioral difficulties, and hostility. Socioeconomic status is proven to create achievement differences among children from low income families from those who come from well off families (Children, Youth and Families & Socioeconomic Status).
Poverty is a considerable social problem; with a significant impact on those who suffer within. Growing up in poverty “reduces a child’s chance of growing up to be a healthy, well-adjusted, and contributing adult in our society” (Crosson-Tower, 2014, p. 59). Poverty is families having to struggle to afford necessities. Poverty does not know where your next meal is coming from or having to choose between paying rent and seeing a health care provider. The impact of poverty affects one’s ability through physical, social, emotional, and educational health. Even though individual overcome poverty it still extends across cultural, racial, ethnic, and geographical borders. Children represent the largest group of poverty in the United States. “Growing up in poverty places a child at a profound disadvantage and substantially lowers the chances that the child will mature into a well-adjusted, productive, and contributing
Poverty is “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor” (Dictionary.com, 2017). Based off this definition poverty is a condition that can cause a cascade of cause and effect actions that is detrimental to families and individuals both physically and mentally. Haan, Kaplan, & Camacho (2017) completed a study on the correlation between social and economic status and health in adults in Oakland, CA. They found that the lower the socioeconomic class the higher incidents of diseases and deaths related to chronic diseases (p.1161-1162). Just being without money or little money was not the only indication of health indication, a person living in an area with higher poverty issues