Parental stress can affect children's healthy growth, a new study says.
According to a team of researchers led by Elizabeth Prout Parks from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, parents who experience stress are more likely to provide their children with fast food and are more likely to have obese children.
For the study, the researchers included 2,119 parents and caregivers, with children aged between three and 17. All the participants shared details through telephone surveys. Parental stressors like health issues, financial tension and single parent position were measured.
Race, age, health quality, gender of children, adult levels of education, BMI, fast food consumption, physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption were some of the factors covered in the survey.
At the end of the study, researchers found parents experiencing high level of stress more likely to avoid cooking fresh meals for their children and depend up on fast food which contains high level of fat and sugar.
"Stress in parents may be an important risk factor for child obesity and related behaviors," Elizabeth Prout Parks, a physician nutrition specialist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said in a statement. "The severity and number of stressors are important."
Stressed out parents were also found less likely to take proper care and supervision of their children compared to unstressed parents. At present, the researchers are planning to conduct further studies to find out possible methods to tackle this problem.
"Clinical care, research and other programs might reduce levels of childhood obesity by developing supportive measures to reduce stressors on parents," said Prout-Parks. "Teaching alternative coping strategies to parents might also help them to reduce their perceived stress."
Findings of the study have been published in Pediatrics.
The findings come at a time when childhood obesity affects 17 percent of all American children and teens. According to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC), following a healthy lifestyle, eating habit and physical activity can help children from gaining unnecessary weight.
