Parental Time & Obesity

This book uses unique dataset to examine parental influence on children’s dietary intake and whether or not the children will become obese. The study shows that household income, parents’ time spent with children, and parents’ work experiences significantly affect children’s energy and fat intake and obesity-related outcomes. For example, the more time mothers spent with their children, the lower the children’s Body Mass Index (BMI) was. On the other hand, the more time fathers spent with their children, the higher the children’s BMI was. And the more time both fathers and mothers spent with their children, the higher their children’s fat intake (as a percentage of energy) was. In general, mothers tended to have a greater effect on their children’s dietary intake than fathers did. Both parents seemed to influence children ages 9-11 more than they did children ages 13-15. This publication is based on a government report augmented by a full index and related literature report.