Comparison of mothers' motivation to prevent preschool childhood obesity across four ethnic groups

While obesity is increasingly a significant problem for children throughout the population, effective public health strategies may require targeted interventions to change the behavior of families from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. A recent field study focused on preventing and/or reducing childhood obesity by changing the behavior of parents through interventions utilizing methods from the health behavior model, social cognitive theory, and self-efficacy theory. The study focused on families with children between the ages of two and four who participated in two Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Programs in Virginia. While the initial results of the study indicated that parents did change two of six targeted behaviors, subsequent analysis of data collected for this study identified differences by racial and socioeconomic factors. One finding is that the respondents generally agree on their ability to prevent their child from becoming overweight, feeling somewhat certain of their capability. However, for the measure of readiness to act to prevent overweight, there is a significant difference between Asian and Black respondents, with Black respondents more ready to act. Another significant finding is that the majority of respondents, ranging from 80% of Asians to 91.5% of Whites, do not think their child is overweight, despite the fact that the children of over 40% of these respondents are in fact overweight or obese. These findings suggest supports other research in the literature that there is disconnect between perception of obesity and the reality of obesity, and that this difference may vary among certain subpopulations.