Hot Topic - Obesity in American Adolescents

So being a more or less health conscious individual and yet still loving to eat a bag of chips or a batch of cookies, the problems arising with teen obesity in American interest me.  Childhood obesity seems like such a preventable thing and yet the data keeps showing that rates raise each year.  It seems pretty clear that when obesity is present in children the blame can be placed on the parents or caretakers of those children.  However, does this same theory hold true when those children become adolescents? 

Now don't get me wrong here, a lot of adolescents were already obese before they hit their teen years and then it is very difficult for them to change their ways.  But at what point do adolescents become responsible for their health?  I tend to believe that an individual becomes responsible for their health when they turn eighteen and become responsible for taking care of themselves as an adult.  So in my mind, there is little doubt that parents, schools, and caretakers of children and adolescents are to blame for the childhood obesity problem in America...along with the growing social media.

These were my thoughts before I started to do some research which brought up new valid points and reinforced others.  One interesting article I found, http://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20120713/NEWS01/707139999/Obesity-%E2%80%94-a-big-issue-facing-tribes, discussed how Native Americans make up the nation's highest obesity rates and discussed how that population is working to combat their community's problems with obesity.  This article reminded me how much cultural backgrounds impact a child and their development.  Cultural heritage is a large aspect which can greatly contribute to a child or adolescent being overweight. 

Two of the more interesting articles I found state that social influences and one's choice of friends also have an impact on obesity.  In short, these articles state that if one hangs out and interacts with thin friends, one tends to be thinner and loss weight.  Whereas if one hangs out and interacts with overweight friends, one tends to be overweight and gain weight.  Homophily, the tendency to select similar friends also plays into this equation.  The social aspect of physical appearance is one I have always acknowledge but I never realized that it could work both ways, making youth want to loss or gain weight according to who they hung around with, as society in general promotes the thin aspect.  I guess this makes a lot of sense for adolescents though for both weight gain and weight loss as they strive to be accepted by their groups of peers, not society as whole.  For adolescents, weight is influenced by who your friends are. Here are the two articles:  http://www.doctorslounge.com/index.php/news/pb/30488 and http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/07/study-of-the-day-among-groups-of-friends-obesity-is-contagious/259620/

The last few articles I looked at considered the school's place in this equation as there is the constant argument of more or less gym time along with improving food choices at school.  For me, there is no question here at all.  Schools need to continue to help address the growing issue of obesity in youth by continuing to have physical activities or gym classes throughout the day and providing more nutritious foods and health education.  Children spend almost 2,000 days of their lives at school which is why schools cannot ignore the growing concern of obesity amongst adolescents and simply blame the parents.  Here are the articles:  http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/despite-obesity-concerns-gym-classes-are-cut-644222/ and http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/0627/Obesity-in-America-Schools-on-the-front-line-of-the-fight

We are all to blame for obesity in American Adolescents.  Parents, society, schools, caretakers, peer groups, and eventually the adolescent themselves all need to step up out of the digital world to attack the ever growing issue of obesity in America.