Are single children more likely to be overweight or obese than those with siblings? The influence of China's one-child policy on childhood obesity

Min, Jungwon; Xue, Hong; Wang, Vivian H.C.; Li, Miao; Wang, Youfa

doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.07.018

Cited by 32 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Considering weight, different profiles were observed between sexes regarding each child's condition, with boys achieving higher results in the only-child group and girls achieving higher scores in the children with siblings group. The boys' results were in line with a study conducted with Chinese children aged six to eighteen, which showed that only children were about four times more likely to be obese than children with siblings, even after controlling for sex, age, parental weight status, parental education level, household income, and urban/rural residence (29). Also, Bagley et al (30) found that boys without siblings spent more time watching television than boys with siblings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Physical Fitness and Somatic Characteristics of the Only Child

et al. 2020

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Physical Fitness and Somatic Characteristics of the Only Child

et al. 2020

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“…In particular, children from single-child families were found to be heavier and to have a higher BMI and, thus, less likely to be underweight but more likely to be overweight. Previous studies also found that children from single-child families were more likely to be over-fed and, thus, become significantly heavier and have a higher BMI than their counterparts with siblings, and the differences in health outcomes between children from single-child families and children with siblings could be attributable to higher consumption of animal-sourced food, higher frequency of eating Western fast food and drinking sweetened soft drinks, a higher share of meals eaten away from home, and more sedentary activity [ 10 , 40 ]. However, the easing of fertility control policies in recent years may slow the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity and reduce the corresponding health burden for China [ 10 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth and Weight Status in Chinese Children and Their Association with Family Environments

Tian

Wang

2021

Children

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The growth status and weight status of Chinese children have experienced remarkable changes in the past decades. Using China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) data, this paper examines the secular trends and disparity of the growth status and weight status in Chinese children and further investigates the impact of various family environments on children’s growth from 1991 to 2011. We found an increasing trend in standardized growth indicators (height, weight, and BMI), overweight, and obesity from 1991 to 2011. We also observed an increasing disparity in overweight and obesity over time. Family environments had a significant impact on children’s growth status and weight status. In particular, children that live in families with a small size, higher family income, better sanitary conditions, and with well-educated parents or overweight parents tended to be taller and heavier and have a higher BMI, lower risk of being underweight, and higher risk of exhibiting overweight and obesity. Further decomposition analysis showed that more than 70% of the disparity in standardized height, weight, and overweight and around 50% of the disparity in standardized BMI, underweight, and obesity could be attributed to heterogeneity in family environments. Moreover, the disparity associated with family environments tended to increase over time.

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“…Regarding the higher stunting prevalence among children whose mothers had three or more children, it can be speculated that, under this condition, the mother would have less time to take care of her children and, additionally, there would be less per capita availability of food at home. A Chinese study revealed that being a singlechild is about four times more likely to be overweight than those having siblings, leading the authors to conclude that China's one-child policy might have contributed to its rising childhood obesity rates [44].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stunting and overweight among children in Northeast Brazil: prevalence, trends (1992-2005-2015) and associated risk factors from repeated cross-sectional surveys

et al. 2020

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Background: A study involving children from Alagoas (Northeast Brazil) revealed that, as a consequence of a drastic reduction in the prevalence of stunting between 1992 to 2005, (22.5 to 11.4%) combined with an increase in overweight prevalence (6.7 to 9.3%), the prevalence of these two conditions in 2005 was very close. If these trends were maintained, it is very likely that, at this time, the childhood overweight prevalence has already exceeded that of the stunting. However, no study is available to confirm this hypothesis. The identification of these changes is relevant to the planning and evaluation of public policies. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, time trends and associated factors with stunting and overweight in children from Alagoas. Methods: Independent cross-sectional household surveys were conducted in 1992 (n = 1231), 2005 (n = 1381) and 2015 (n = 988). Data were collected from probabilistic samples of children aged 0-60 months. Stunting was defined by stature-forage < − 2 sd and overweight by weight-for-stature > 2 sd. Results: Between 1992, 2005 and 2015, the stunting prevalence was 22.6, 11.2 and 3.2% (reduction of 85.8%), while the overweight prevalence was 6.9, 7.5 and 14.9% (increase of 115.9%), respectively. After multivariate analysis, the following positive associations with stunting were observed in 1992: age group > 24 months (28.3% vs 14.5%), mother with ≥2 children (28.8% vs 12.8%), low birth weight (28.3% vs 15.7%) and mother with low schooling (29.3% vs 7.2%). In 2015 there was a higher prevalence of stunting in males (4.2% vs 2.2%), in children < 24 months (4.6% vs 2.2%), with low birth weight (8.6% vs 3.0%) and in those who had mothers with low schooling (7.0% vs 2.6%). Regarding overweight, in 1992 there was higher prevalence for male (9.1% vs 4.7%) and in children whose mothers had ≤2 children (8.9% vs 5.8%), while in 2015 only birth weight > 4 kg was associated to overweight (27.3% vs 14.2%).

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Are single children more likely to be overweight or obese than those with siblings? The influence of China's one-child policy on childhood obesity

Cited by 32 publications

References 13 publications

Physical Fitness and Somatic Characteristics of the Only Child

Physical Fitness and Somatic Characteristics of the Only Child

Growth and Weight Status in Chinese Children and Their Association with Family Environments

Stunting and overweight among children in Northeast Brazil: prevalence, trends (1992-2005-2015) and associated risk factors from repeated cross-sectional surveys

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