Parenting Styles Research Paper

Words: 795
Pages: 4

In the past three decades, obesity has continued to rise to epidemic proportions (CDC, 2008). Maintaining a healthy weight is imperative for children because it leading to poor health and causing earlier deaths. In today's society, children are now spending more time in front of the television instead of participating in physical activity (Troiano et al. 2008). Parenting styles consist of different ways of providing daily environmental and emotional context for a child (Darling, 1993). Previous findings suggest that a relationship between parenting styles and obesity are inconsistent across studies. In a study conducted by Berge (2010), urban youth from Minneapolis were surveyed. Participants consisted of half females and half males. Practicing healthy behaviors are more common in high SES families rather than low-income families. Results indicate that among males, authoritarian result in an increase in weight. Another finding in this study indicated that fathers that did not …show more content…
Out of 24.9%, only 11% of African American students met the requirements for physical activity (Huffman, 2017). Many factors can lead to a decline in physical activity such as, lack of a support system, not feeling comfortable while exercising, and bullying. An authoritative type of parenting style can beneficial for a child when it comes to physical activity. This type of parenting style balances control over behaviors with high levels of warmth (Huffman, 2017). With this parenting style, it is assumed that parents who demonstrate this behavior show a high level of engagement in their child's life. However, parenting styles are different from each culture and authoritarian parenting has had positive outcomes for African American children. The research out about parenting styles and physical activity is limited, and researchers agree on little about the correlation between the