Almost before our eyes, pediatric obesity has grown to epidemic proportions in the United States and elsewhere, and is now known to be associated with a number of medical and psychosocial comorbidities that may last a lifetime. Within the span of less than two generations, the number of children and youth with obesity and overweight has more than doubled in some age groups, and has tripled in others (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2007). If estimates of the trajectory are correct, by 2010 approximately 50 percent of children in North America and 38 percent of children in the European Union will be overweight or obese (Wang & Lobstein, 2006).
The alarming increase in the prevalence of obesity is likely due to a constellation of factors, including biological, behavioral, sociological, and economic. Correspondingly, just as there are multiple etiological factors for the condition, we argue that the solutions to the problem are likely to require changes within multiple and interacting systems within society. These include changes at the individual level, changes in local and regional policy, and perhaps changes in values at the national level.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979).The Ecology of Human Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2006). Overweight among students in grades K-12-Arkansansas, 2003–04 and 2004–05 school years.Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,13, 5–8
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2007).Prevalence of Overweight among Children and Adolescents: United States, 2003–2004. Rockville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved September 19, 2007 fromhttp://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ products/pubs/pubd/hestats/overweight/overwght_child_03.htm#Table%201
Eliakim, A., Kaven, G., Berger, I., Friedland, O., Wolach, B., & Nemet, D. (2002). The effect of a combined intervention on body mass index and fitness in obese children and adolescents — a clinical experience.European Journal of Pediatrics,161, 449–454
Epstein, L. H., Paluch, R. A., Roemmich, J. N., & Beecher, M. D. (2007). Family-based obesity treatment, then and now: Twenty-five years of pediatric obesity treatment.Health Psychology,26, 381–391
Flodmark, C. E., Marcus, E., & Britton, M. (2006). Interventions to prevent obesity in children and adolescents: A systematic literature review.International Journal of Obesity,30, 579–589
Goldfield, G. S., Epstein, L. H., Kilanowski, C. K., Paluch, R. A., & Kogut-Bossler, B. (2001). Cost-effectiveness of group and mixed family-based treatment for childhood obesity.International Journal of Obesity,25, 1843–1849
Hurling, R., Fairley, B. W., & Dias M. B. (2006). Internet-based exercise interventions: Are more interactive designs better?Psychological Health,21, 757–772
Jelalian, E., Boergers, J., Alday, C. S., & Frank, R. (2003). Survey of physician attitudes and practices related to pediatric obesity.Clinical Pediatrics,42, 235–245
Jelalian, E., Mehlenbeck, R., Lloyd-Richardson, E. E., Birmaher, V., & Wing, R. R., (2006). ‘Adventure therapy’ combined with cognitive-behavioral treatment for overweight adolescents.International Journal of Obesity,30, 31–39
Jelalian, E., Wember, Y. M., Bungeroth, H., & Birmaher, V. (2007). Practitioner review: Bridging the gap between research and clinical practice in pediatric obesity.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,48, 115–127
Johnson, D. B., Gerstein, D. E., Evans, A. E., & Woodward-Lopez, G. (2006). Preventing obesity: A life cycle perspective.Journal of the American Dietetic Association,106, 97–102
Johnston, C. A., & Steele, R. G. (2007). Treatment of pediatric obesity: An examination of effectiveness in an applied clinical setting.Journal of Pediatric Psychology,32, 106–110
Kazak, A. E., Rourke M. T., & Crump, T. A. (2003). Families and other systems in pediatric psychology. In M.C. Roberts (Ed.),Handbook of Pediatric Psychology, (3rd ed., pp. 159–175). New York: Guilford
Kliegerman, M., Sallis, J. F., Ryan, S., Frank, L. D., & Nader, P. R. (2007). Association of neighborhood design and recreation environment variables with physical activity and body mass index in adolescents.American Journal of Health Promotion,21, 274–277
Mercer, S. L., Green, L. W., Rosenthal, A. C., Husten, C. G., Khan, L. K., & Dietz, W. H. (2003). Possible lessons from the tobacco experience for obesity control.American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,77, 1073S–1082S
Moyers, P., Bugle, L., & Jackson, E. (2005). Perceptions of school nurses regarding obesity in school-age children.The Journal of School Nursing,21, 86–93
Neumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., Hannan, P. J., & Rex, J. (2003). New moves: A school-based obesity prevention program for adolscent girls.Prevention Medicine,37, 41–51
O'Brien, M., Nader, P. R., Houts, R. M., Bradley, R.,Friedman, S. L., Belsky, J. et al., (2007). The ecology of childhood overweight: A 12-year longitudinal analysis.International Journal of Obesity,31, 1469–1478
Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Curtin, L. R., McDowell, M. A., Tabak, C. J., & Flegal, K. M. (2006). Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999–2004.Journal of the American Medical Association,295, 1549–1555
Patrick, K., Sallis, J. F., Prochaska, J. J., Lydston, D. D., Calfas, K. J., Zabinski, M. F., et al., (2001). A multicomponent program for nutrition and physical activity change in primary care.Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine,155, 940–946
Power, T., DuPaul, G., Shapiro, E., & Kazak, A. (2003).Promoting Children's Health: Integrating School, Family, and Community. New York: Guilford
Rhee, K. E., Lumeng, J. C., Appugliese, D. P., Kaciroti, N., & Bradley, R. H. (2006). Parenting styles and overweight status in first grade.Pediatrics,117, 2047–2054
Saelens, B. E., & Liu, L. (2007). Clinician's comment on treatment of childhood overweight meta-analysis.Health Psychology,26, 533–536
Saelens, B. E., Sallis, J. F., Wilfey, D. E., Patrick, K., Cella, J. A., & Butcha, R. (2002). Behavioral weight control for overweight adolescents initiated in primary care.Obesity Research,10, 22–32
Sallis, J. F., & Glanz, K. (2006). The role of built environments in physical activity, eating, and obesity in childhood.Future of Children,16, 89–108
Steele, R. G., Mize Nelson, J. A., & Nelson, T. D. (2008). Methodological issues in the evaluation of therapies. In R.G. Steele, T.D. Elkin, & M.C. Roberts (Eds.)Handbook of Evidence-Based Therapies for Children and Adolescents. Berlin Heidelberg New York: Springer
Steele, R. G., Nelson, T. D., & Cole, B. P. (2007). The psychosocial adjustment of children and adolescents with HIV: Review from a socio-ecological perspective.Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics,28, 58–69
Story, M. T., Neumark-Stzainer, D. R., Sherwood, N. E., Holt, K., Sofka, D., Trowbridge, F. L., et al. (2002). Management of child and adolescent obesity: Attitudes, barrier, skills, and training needs among health care professionals.Pediatrics,110, 210–214
Strauss, R. S., & Pollack, H. A. (2003). Social marginalization of overweight children.Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine,157, 746–752
Wang, Y., & Lobstein, T. (2006). Worldwide trends in childhood overweight and obesity.International Journal of Pediatric Obesity,1, 11–25
Wilfley, D. E., Tibbs, T. L., Van Buren, D. J., Reach, K. P., Walker, M. S., & Epstein, L. H. (2007). Lifestyle interventions in the treatment of childhood overweight: A meta-analytic review of randomized control trials.Health Psychology,26, 521–532
Williamson, D. A., Walden, H. M., White, M. A., York-Crowe, E., Newton, Jr., R. L., Alfonso, A., et al., (2006). Two-year internet-based randomized controlled trial for weight loss in African-American girls.Obesity Research,14, 1231–1243
Zeller, M., Kirk, S., Claytor, R., Khoury, P., Grieme, J., Santangelo, M., & Daniels, S. (2004). Predictors of attrition from a pediatric weight management program.Journal of Pediatrics,144, 466–470
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jelalian, E., Steele, R.G., Jensen, C.D. (2008). Future Directions in Pediatric Obesity Prevention and Intervention: Research and Practice. In: Jelalian, E., Steele, R.G. (eds) Handbook of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity. Issues in Clinical Child Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-76924-0_27
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-76924-0_27
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-76922-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-76924-0
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)