Enjoyment of Physical Activity and Childhood Obesity

Despite the intense efforts of physicians, family scientists, educators, and politicians, the prevalence of childhood obesity has remained high within the United States. In fact, recent estimates indicate that the childhood obesity rate has more than tripled since the 1970’s with 20% of school age children considered obese. With a host of secondary conditions associated with childhood obesity, the importance of reversing this trend cannot be overstated.

The last several decades have brought a plethora of programs and campaigns designed to promote healthy eating and an active lifestyle for children and adults. Unfortunately, these campaigns have provided modest results, and the prevalence of childhood obesity has not fallen as substantially as desired. Identifying the source of this failure is critical, if the desired effects of the United States obesity reduction efforts are to be realized.

One possibility, often overlooked by clinicians and researchers alike, is the potential for human emotion to contribute to childhood obesity. Although emotions may lead to obesity through several channels, one of the most problematic may be through forced participation in a physical activity. If parents enroll an uninterested or unwilling child in a physical activity and require participation, regardless of their child’s wants, the activity may be perceived as stressful and anxiety producing. This may, in turn, trigger the child to seek comfort from food (likely a high calorie, low nutrient food) thereby increasing caloric consumption. The child may also participate with a low exertion rate, resulting in a caloric expenditure that is less than anticipated. In this event, increased physical activity would have increased the imbalance between caloric consumption and expenditure and become a contributor to childhood obesity.

To examine this conjecture data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, National Youth Fitness Survey is employed in a three prong analysis. First, the connection between enjoyment derived from physical activity and a child’s propensity to be obese is examined, in a framework where both a child’s body mass index (BMI) and tricep skinfold are considered. Second, the relationship between enjoyment of physical activity and diet quality is examined, as children who enjoy activity more may eat more nutritious diets, to better fuel their activities. Finally, the relationship between enjoyment of physical activity and the quantity (and rigor) of activity one engages in is examined.

Preliminary results indicate that children who enjoy physical activity the most are more likely to participate in organized sports and are less likely to be considered obese than their peers with lower enjoyment levels. This study contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First, this study considers two measures of childhood obesity (BMI and tricep skinfold) – thereby reducing the probability that a child with a low body-fat percentage but high BMI would be classified as obese. Second, this study considers both the quality of calories consumed as well as the child’s caloric expenditures. Combined, the results suggest that future policy should promote enjoyment (in addition to volume) of physical activity.