The American Youth Nourishment Crises – week 4
Maxine Suarez
ANT464: Applied Anthropology (CSL1414A)
Professor: Sean McCoy
April 28, 2014
Annotated Bibliography:
Cawley, J. (2006). Markets and Childhood Obesity Policy. The Future of Children 16.1, 69-88
John Cawley examines causes and possible policy solutions that work through economic
markets. He argues that policy makers have the ability to implement changes such as taking the
vending machines out of the school system, reduce advertising directed at children and have
accountability for providing the population with nutrient information in order to make better
choices.
Franzini, L., PhD., Elliott, M. N., PhD., Cuccaro, P., PhD., Schuster, Mark,M.D., PhD.,
Gilliland, M. J., Grunbaum, J. A., EdD., . . . Tortolero, S. R., PhD. (2009). Influences of
physical and social neighborhood environments on children's physical activity and
obesity. American Journal of Public Health, 99(2), 271-8. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/215088264?accountid=32521. The research was
based on 5th graders and obesity. It followed 650 children and their caregivers through phase1 of
Healthy Passages, a multisite, community-based, cross-sectional study of health risk behaviors
and health outcomes in children. The study suggests that neighborhoods influence the obesity
issue even including land use (the way in which land is zoned for business, residential,
commercial property). This ties into my paper and the argument that neighborhoods contribute to
obesity.
Gable, S., & Lutz, S. (2000). Household, Parent, and Child Contributions to Childhood Obesity.
Family Relations. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/585894. This is an
excellent article that suggests focus should be on controlling child hood obesity. It also factors
in demographics, if a family is a single run household, parents ideas towards mealtime and their
eating habits factoring in to childhood obesity. A study using a survey method conducted at a fair
in which the participants volunteered and signed consent forms included children between the
ages of three and ten years old. The study was also broken down the study by race, income and
gender. The results were broken down into four categories including parents ideas toward food
and, food and money, and food availability and childhood intake.
Greenhalgh, S. (2012). Weighty subjects: The biopolitics of the U.S. war on fat. ). Influences of
physical and social neighborhood environments on children's physical activity and
obesity, American Ethnologist 99(2), 271-8. Retrieved from:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23250779. Greenhalg focuses on what society deems as fat
and she has four subjects that consider themselves fat. Greenhalgh argues that the fat epidemic is
a biopolitical field of science and governance that has emerged to name, study, measure, and
manage the “obesity epidemic. She also argues that the fat epidemic is contributing to other
factors in society. She conducted a study called the SoCal politics project. One common theme is
that the majority of the bullying issues about weight were during the subject’s middle school
years.
Lindsay, A.C.; Sussner, K.M.; Kim, J.; Gortmaker, S. (2006). The Role of Parents in Preventing
Childhood Obesity . The Future of Children 16.1, 168-186.
The authors express that interventions aimed at preventing childhood overweight and obesity
should involve parents as important forces for change in their children's behaviors. This fact
further supports the claim in my research paper that healthy habits begin at home. Parents who
can have family meals and prepare fresh meals are giving their children a healthier lifestyle and
instilling healthy habits. The parents' own eating behaviors may contribute to the development of
overweight in their children.
Molnar, A. (2003). School Commercialism Hurts All Children, Ethnic Minority Group Children
Most of All. Youth of Color: Education and Other Socialization Contexts. The Journal of
Negro Education 72(4), 371-378. Retreived from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3211189.
Molnar’s article proves that within the school system, advertising and media greatly influences
children’s food choices. The study shows that commercialism in school harms children in
different ways, especially in schools that have little funding and depend on the charity of
corporate sponsors. The article suggests that the availability of charter schools are a contributing
factor because poorer students do not have transportation to these schools which are often
sponsored by big corporations.
Schanzenbach, D.W. (summer 2009). Do School Lunches Contribute to Childhood Obesity?
Journal of Human Resources, 44 (3) 684-709.
Diane Whitmore Schazenbach assesses whether school lunches contribute to childhood obesity.
She incorporates two methods to determine the effect of school lunches on obesity. She uses
panel data, which reveals that children who consume school lunches are more likely to be obese
than those who bring their lunch from home. She also researches the effect of eligibility for
reduced-price lunch to compare children above and just below the eligibility cutoff. She
determined that students are more likely to be obese, and weigh more if they are eligible for
reduced school lunches. This ties into my paper because it supports the claim that children in
poverty are at higher risk of being obese.
Tamayo, T., Christian, H., & Rathmann, W. (2010). Impact of early psychosocial factors (childhood
socioeconomic factors and adversities) on future risk of type 2 diabetes, metabolic disturbances
and obesity: A systematic review. BMC Public Health, 10, 525.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-525 .
The authors carried out two systematic reviews which consisted of longitudinal and population, neglect,
trauma and abuse- or community-based studies. What they were able to prove was that eight out of ten
studies confirmed that a child’s socioeconomic status greatly impacts their chances of developing type-2
diabetes later in life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC3BNPZQtk8 – In an interview with Lisa Ling, Brianna a 12 year
old weighs 325 pounds and gaining. The video shows the painful realization and her family coping
mechanism. She does not eat fresh vegetables or fruits. The main message is that Brianna’s generation
is the first generation in history that may have shorter life spans than their parents. Oprah Winfrey
Network, Jan 29, 2013
Nightly News, August 15, 2013. Obesity three times more deadly than previously thought.
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/52768611#52768611
NBC’s Nancy Snyderman reports. 1 in 5 Americans may die due to obesity. Follows the journey of
Marshall, a child that has taken measures to lose weight and created a kid friendly cook book to keep on
track and motivate other children. Children in the southern US are more at risk than other areas of the
states.
March 4, 2010. Childhood Obesity
http://www.c-span.org/video/?292400-25/childhood-obesity
The middle school section first prize-winning video, Childhood Obesity: A Challenge Facing America, was
produced by Matthew Shimura, a 7th grade student from Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii. The
video goes into detail about how we live in a society who’s children are no longer active. Children spend
on average of 4 hours a day in front of the tv and school’s exercise programs are being reduced.
Photo credits:
http://abcnews.go.com/meta/search/imageDetail?format=plain&source=http://abcnews.go.com/image
s/Health/ht_childhood_obesity_ads_tk_120102
The above picture on the left demonstrates that healthy habits begin at home. On the right, the
message is that kids cannot behave as kids if they have a weight issue.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/fat-baby-santiago-mendoza-colombia-3262154
This picture is the biggest baby in Columbia. The mother feeds the child on demand. This baby has been
in the news several times recently, including a discussion on weight loss surgery.
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/02/-fat-letters-sent-to-parents-of-obese-massachusetts-students85776.html
The above picture is from an article that discusses how the school sent home letters advising the parent
if their child’s BMI. Some parents were against it and did not appreciate their child being labeled as
obese. The article stated the parents had the option to opt-out their child’s weight being measured.
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/02/clifton-kubiak-loses-75-pounds-after-being-197-at-age-1485780.html
The above picture is an inspiring story of a 14 year old who lost 75 pounds and is continuing to stay on
the right track. If I could use my own son as an example, I would have included a before and after
picture of my son, who also was about the same age when he faced his weight challenge head on and
has lost about the same amount of weight in the course of over a year. This story hit home for me.
http://www.healthykidshealthyfuture.org/welcome.html
The above picture is from the healthy kids website with a message that the children are enjoying ethnic
food and healthier choices. It is essential that more schools start to take on the challenge of offering
healthier meals.
Links to popular websites or blogs:
http://www.healthykidshealthyfuture.org/welcome.html Let’s Move Childcare; The website for Let’s
Move! Initiative for early care and education
http://childhood--obesity.blogspot.com/ This is a blog about childhood obesity.
http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/child_obesity/index.cfm US Dept of Health & Human Services