StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Epidemiology in the News Homework - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Clinicians and medical researchers make the assumption that conflicting nutrition and health messages are conveyed through different media platforms, thus negatively influencing the public’s comprehension of healthy behavior. The information transmitted by mainstream media…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92.8% of users find it useful
Epidemiology in the News Homework
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Epidemiology in the News Homework"

Epidemiology in the News Homework Clinicians and medical researchers make the assumption that conflicting nutrition and health messages are conveyed through different media platforms, thus negatively influencing the public’s comprehension of healthy behavior. The information transmitted by mainstream media could also negate scientific research, further misleading members of the public who rarely bother to get credible information about a given health concern. In this case, the health issue under consideration is childhood obesity, and parental influence in reducing or promoting this critical health concern.

The journal article selected for this study is titled “Childrens eating attitudes and behaviour: a study of the modelling and control theories of parental influence.” The experiential study by Ogden and Brown compares the control theories and models of parents’ influence on the feeding habits and behavior of children. This study particularly focuses on kid’s consumption of snacks. To get conclusive results, the authors designed questionnaires meant to analyze obesity risk factors like eating motivations, snack intake, as well as, body dissatisfaction (Brown & Ogden, 2004).

Participating parents were also required to fill in questionnaires with additional aspects relating to the effort they make in regulating their children’s feeding behavior. Another aspect studied during the study, was the parents’ tendency to use food as an instrument for kids’ behavior regulation. The study results indicated that there is a significant connection between parents and children, in consideration of snack consumption, feeding motivations and, hence childhood obesity. This article, therefore, places emphasis on the imperative role of modelling that parents should play.

All the same, results from the study indicate that negative parental influence is not the sole determinant of obesity, since it must be coupled with other factors like sedentary child lifestyles, lack of exercise and excessive consumption of junk food among other things. The study findings also indicate that a constructive parental model is more effective in facilitating transformation and regulation of obesity, than parents’ attempts to compel children to reduce their food intake (Brown & Ogden, 2004).

An article by fine, titled “Junk food doesn’t make kids fat - junk parents do” posted in an Australian blog The Punch, exaggerates these research findings to an extent of misleading the public. For instance, the article discredits the notion that advertising of food products during children’s television programs is a contributory factor to childhood obesity. This is shown in the author’s statement, countering researchers’ assertion that, children in the contemporary environment spend all their time watching television, surfing the internet and playing video games.

The author’s position is that kids are not submissive pop culture consumers. The news article is also quick to discredit positive parental modelling proposed in the journal article. Instead the author claims that, it is parents’ failure to declare their stand regarding children’s feeding habits, which leads to failure in the attempt to curb childhood obesity. The article overlooks the crucial aspect of curbing childhood obesity, instead using the subject to campaign against the idea of banning junk food advertisements.

The news article also seems to advocate for children’s exposure to television watching and other marketing platforms, based on the argument that it is the children’s and not parents’ responsibility to sieve through all the information conveyed and determine the most suitable. Apparently, failure to do this will lead to the children’s development into impressionable and naïve young adults. This is clearly, a further negation of the positive parental modelling concept suggested in the journal article.

Reference Brown, R., & Ogden, J. (2004). Childrens eating attitudes and behaviour: a study of the modelling and control theories of parental influence. Health Education Research Theory & Practice, 19(3): 261-271.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Epidemiology in the News Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Epidemiology in the News Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1618583-epidemiology-in-the-news-homework
(Epidemiology in the News Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
Epidemiology in the News Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1618583-epidemiology-in-the-news-homework.
“Epidemiology in the News Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1618583-epidemiology-in-the-news-homework.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Epidemiology in the News Homework

Epidemiology: Brain Tumors and Cellular and Cordless Phones

They are use to compare the likelihood of an event between two groups.... For example, in our case study we are comparing the likelihood of lung cancer among smokers and non-smokers. The relative risk comes closer to… The odds compare the relative odds of cancer occurrence in both groups while the relative ratio compares the probability of developing lung cancer in each group rather than the odds....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

Epidemiologic Study design

This study design finds good application in epidemiology for investigating conditions which are relatively rare and in conditions with long latency periods.... The only way that results of cross-sectional studies can be used to test hypotheses in epidemiology is when exposure status does not differ with the passage of time Moreover, since these studies also include prevalent cases, potential bias is seen towards subjects with chronic disease because those with acute and fatal illnesses would have already died before the survey and, therefore, would not have been included (Bailey, et al....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Tourette Syndrom

The disorder is named after his name.... (NINDS, 2010).... It is considered to be a genetic condition, which may or may not be inherited.... The exact causes of this… disorder are not yet fully known, however, research points that some changes in the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain lead to this condition (Abram, 2010)....
7 Pages (1750 words) Term Paper

The Issues of Epidemiology

epidemiology can be defined as the study of determinants and distribution of health related events or states, which also include disease, and the use of this study to control health problems like diseases.... This paper aims to take two case studies and address how epidemiology was concerned with efforts to describe, explain, predict, and control the examples....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Epidemiology of Foodborne Illness

Most of the foodborne illnesses arise… Also, foodborne illnesses may result from toxins which affect the environment (Lindell & David, 2001). The consensus by the health community entails advocating for effective protection measures against the spread of epidemiology epidemiology Foodborne illness refers to the illness resulting from consumption of contaminated food, or foodthat with parasites, bacteria and viruses....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Health epidemiology & statistics

The changing epidemiology pattern and frequency    distribution of hepatitis C virus in Pakistan....  Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis C           virus genotypes in West Mexico.... Despite the numerous researches that have been conducted in relation to the prevention of the spread of diseases, there are still other forms of infectious diseases that have recently emerged....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Epidemiology and the Delivery of Health Care Services

The other side… Thus, epidemiology entails the analysis of the causes and origin of diseases in the society (Smith, 2001).... It provides the foundation for explaining epidemiology epidemiology Human knowledge associated with the origin of diseases and their mechanisms is a structure that is built on two sides, whereby on one side it is through experience, analysis, and observation of the atypical conditions related to the occurrence of infection....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Bipolar Disorder - Incurable Psychic Disease Associated with Adverse Health Complications

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a debilitating, chronic mental illness that is characterized by rapid mood changes and usually affects adolescents and young adults.... The typical clinical presentation includes alternating episodes of mania with hyperactivity, euphoria, and behavioral… In this paper, I will highlight the key clinical features of the disease as well as describe the available diagnostic tools and provide the analysis of the current treatment options. Bipolar disorder is a Genetic factors are considered to be the leading contributor to the disease, accounting for up to 80% of the risk of having the illness....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us