Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

12-2022

Abstract

The obesity pandemic is increasingly threatening Asian populations. This is especially so for children from higher-income countries, such as Singapore. Among the various driving factors of obesity, parents’ health knowledge, attitudes, and practices are underexplored. The present study uses a nationally representative sample of 1,491 responses from Singapore to investigate parental knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) about childhood obesity. Latent class analysis (LCA) on parents’ responses to the KAP survey reveals four unique parenting patterns: the limited knowledge group, the group with negative attitudes, the best practice group, and the limited practice group. Children of families in the best practice group are shown to have the lowest obesity risk. Furthermore, statistically significant variations in parental subgroups are found across several socio-economic factors. For example, parents with positive responses to all KAP variables tend to be younger, have a higher household income, do not work full-time, and live in a separate household from the children’s grandparents. The findings may provide important policy implications for targeted preventative interventions for parents whose children may face higher obesity risks.

Keywords

childhood obesity, health practices, knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP), latent class analysis (LCA), socio-economic factors, Singapore

Discipline

Family, Life Course, and Society | Medicine and Health

Research Areas

Sociology

Publication

SAGE Open

Volume

12

Issue

4

First Page

1

Last Page

14

ISSN

2158-2440

Identifier

10.1177/21582440221144436

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221144436

Download

Share

COinS