Relationships examined: Parent and child readiness to change and sociodemographic characteristics in family based weight loss treatment

Melissa Ramel, Denise E. Wilfley, Rachel Tabak, Daphne Lew, Nasreen A. Moursi, Colleen Kilanowski, Steven R. Cook, Ihouma U. Eneli, Teresa Quattrin, Kenneth B. Schechtman, Leonard H. Epstein

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Family based treatment is an effective, multipronged approach to address obesity as it plagues families. Objective: To investigate the relationships among sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., education and income), body mass index (BMI) and race/ethnicity with readiness to change for parents enrolled in the Primary care pediatrics, Learning, Activity and Nutrition (PLAN) study. Methods: Multivariate linear regressions tested two hypotheses: (1) White parents will have higher levels of baseline readiness to change, when compared to Black parents; (2) parents with higher income and education will have higher levels of readiness to change at baseline. Results: A positive relationship exists between baseline parent BMI and readiness to change (Pearson correlation, 0.09, p < 0.05); statistically significant relationships exist between parent education level (−0.14, p < 0.05), income (0.04, p < 0.05) and readiness to change. Additionally, a statistically significant relationship exists, with both White (β, −0.10, p < 0.05), and Other, non-Hispanic (−0.10, p < 0.05) parents exhibiting lower readiness to change than Black, non-Hispanic parents. Child data did not indicate significant relationships between race/ethnicity and readiness to change. Conclusions: Results demonstrate that investigators should consider sociodemographic characteristic factors and different levels of readiness to change in participants enrolling in obesity interventions.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere13062
JournalPediatric Obesity
Volume18
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2023

Keywords

  • childhood obesity
  • family based treatment
  • readiness to change
  • sociodemographic characteristics
  • weight loss

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