Ainsley Shanks

Palcko

English 112

March 17, 2017

Childhood Obesity Survey

I handed out a survey to some of my classes. Almost all of the people I surveyed were

freshmen. I asked seven questions (including one of which was not included in this final result

paper because of the overall broadness of that answers I received):

What is the main cause of childhood obesity?

Do you think that childhood obesity can affect mental health?

Do you think that childhood obesity has become more prevalent in the past ten years?

Which do you think provides more health benefits? Exercising or dieting?

Do you think you eat healthy?

Do you think you exercise enough?

The questions can childhood obesity affect mental health?, has childhood obesity

become more prevalent in the last ten years?, and, what do you think is the main cause of

childhood obesity?, received expected answers with 96 percent saying yes, it can affect mental

health, 90 percent saying yes, it has become more prevalent, and varied answers for what the

cause of obesity is. Childhood obesity can cause serious mental health problems mainly issues

with self esteem. Childhood obesity has become only more common in the US with increase of

about 10 percent in 10 years. Most sources say that the main cause of childhood obesity is bad

eating habits or overeating but it has been debated that lack of physical activity, genetics, or a
combination of both. Most people that took the survey said that bad eating habits was to blame

with 70 percent, 4 percent said genetics, and 36 percent said lack of physical activity.

There were some questions that had more surprising results: which do you think provides

more health benefits? Exercising or dieting?, do you think you eat healthy?, do you think

you exercise enough?. 50 percent of people think that exercising provides more benefits while

36 percent picked dieting and 34 percent said both (which was not an option). In reality, dieting

is more effective on overall health than exercising is, but a combination of both is the best.

Majority of people think they have a healthy diet and exercise enough with 68 percent and 84

percent. In the US, majority of teens do not eat or exercise enough. This study proves that the

lack of education on health effects how people are unable to see risk factors for being overweight

and even obese. People, first, have to recognize that there is a problem before they begin to solve

it.