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Race/Ethnicity, Acculturation, and Sex Differences in the Relationship between Parental Social Support and Children’s Overweight and Obesity
- Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 23, Number 4, November 2012
- pp. 1793-1805
- 10.1353/hpu.2012.0147
- Article
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In the present study we use the 2007 National Survey of Child Health to examine whether parental social support is associated with children’s overweight/obesity and if this relationship is moderated by race/ethnicity, acculturation, and/or parent’s sex. Results reveal that Hispanics (English and Spanish-speaking) and African Americans have considerably higher rates of child overweight/obesity and are less likely to have social support with parenting than Whites. Social support emerged as a significant predictor of overweight/obesity only for English-speaking Hispanic fathers. However, the magnitude of this effect was substantial. English-speaking Hispanic fathers were more than twice as likely as White fathers to have an overweight/obese child, but with social support, the odds declined by 80%. Findings suggest a need to understand better how race/ethnicity and acculturative stress shape fathers’ parenting practices and how social support serves to buffer these strains.