Overweight: parental education plays a major role
To those who still doubt it, it is an obvious fact: the education that parents give to their childrenis decisivein the conceptualization of their own image and also their weight. Two specialists from the Paris School of Economics have studied an obvious relationship between, on the one hand, the level of education of parents and, on the other hand, the overweight of their children.
A not-so-amazing study
According to statistical data, in France, 1/6th of children under 17 are overweight or obese. The sources come from a health survey conducted by INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies and Social Protection) and IRDES (Institute for Research and Documentation in Health Economics) which, from a panel of forty thousand children, update the relationship between social background and overweight.
Two economists, Bénédicte Apouey and Pierre-Yves Geoffard, studied the level of education of children within their families. These data collected are significant: parents who have a level of education above the baccalaureate educate their children, under 17 years old, in the awareness of the managementof extra pounds. These children have a less than 7% risk of being obese as adults. This difference varies according to age.
In fact, inequality increases more until the age of 8. Before this period, the risk of being overweightis less than 9.5% for young individuals whose mother has a higher level of education. This risk decreases thereafter since at the age of 17 the risk drops to just over 1 point.
These scientific data are therefore surprising since the protective effect of socio-economic statustends to diminish as children grow older and this from the age of eight.
Some explanations
The two economists behind this study put forward two rational explanations for this decline in social inequalities and the consequences it has on obesity beyond the age of eight.
- For them, it is around this time that young individuals begin to detach themselves from the family fold and to suffer, in a less direct way, the influence of parents.
- In addition, physical activity, which takes a greater part in the lives of pre-adolescents, allows them to satisfy their excess energy and assert themselves through the acquisition of their body schema.
It is clear that the environment therefore plays an essential role in the mental, psychological, emotional and physical development of prepubescent.
However, it is education that remains the essential factor in the acquisition of well-being.
That is why this study is essential for everyone. The government would thus haveevery interest in relying on these statisticsrather than wanting, at all costs, to impose various taxes on the French on sodas, chocolate and other products harmful to health; taxes that consumers neither understand nor accept.
Prevention remains the sinews of war because it is more effective than repression in the feeling of the citizen in the face of measures that punish his behavior. And since education is the responsibility of the family, parents but also of the school system, we are entitled to ask ourselves whether the school has not abandoned some basic precepts, such as the rules of hygiene, which seem to be their responsibility.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.