Authoritarian Parents with Little Affection Double the Risk of Obesity in Their Kids

Rigid Parents with less affection increase the risk of obesity in their kids, a study by the American Heart Association claims. The rate of childhood obesity has doubled in the past few years.  Obesity is one of the most serious medical conditions that affect children and adolescents. Childhood obesity is regarded by the World Health Organization as one of the most serious global public health challenge of the 21st century.  This study presents another factor that leads to obesity in kids. The study highlighted how emotions play a significant role in weight management. The study was done on 37,577 Canadian children. The researchers looked at children whose parents are generally affectionate and carry discussion about the behaviour of their children and also maintain healthy boundaries (authoritative) and those parents who are very strict about limits and have no dialogue and affection for children (authoritarian). They compared children of authoritative and authoritarian parents. The researchers noticed that children raised by authoritarian children suffered a high risk of obesity. The risk was high among 2-5 year-old children. And, the risk was even higher among kids of 6-11 years. "Parents should at least be aware of their parenting style," Lisa Kakinami, Ph.D., a post-doctoral epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal, said in a news release. "If you're treating your child with a balance of affection and limits - these are the kids who are least likely to be obese." The parents' responses were later compared to the cross sectional survey. Researchers categorized the parenting styles and evaluated them with the percentile of the body mass index of the children. They saw that poverty was linked was childhood obesity.  But irrespective of the income level, parenting style highly affected obesity. According to the American Heart Association, over a third of American children are overweight or obese.