Causes of childhood obesity?
Childhood obesity is caused by poor parenting and poor food choices according to a majority of Americans. In a Poll Position national scientific telephone survey we asked, do you think childhood obesity is a disease, or is it caused by poor parenting, poor food choices, or both? Both poor parenting and poor food choices was selected as the number one cause with 34% making that choice, 29% said poor parenting, 24% said poor food choices, 4% thought childhood obesity was a disease, 9% did not offer an opinion.
Men and women differed in their views on the causes of childhood obesity. Among men, 35% said it was caused by poor parenting, 31% selected both poor parenting and poor food choices, 22% said it was poor food choices, 4% see it as a disease, 8% offered no opinion. Women thought childhood obesity was the result of both poor parenting and poor food choices by 36%, 27% of women said it is caused by poor food choices, 24% of women selected poor parenting, 3% of women said it is a disease, 10% of women did not offer an opinion.
You can see the breakdown of choices on childhood obesity causes in the crosstabs below:
Poll Position Crosstabs-Childhood obesity
Poll Position’s scientific telephone survey of 1,145 registered voters nationwide was conducted January 17, 2012 and has a margin of error of ±3%. From the total sample there are 694 with an opinion of Elton John/Madonna with a margin or error of +/- 4%. Poll results are weighted to be a representative sampling of all American adults.
What do you think? Vote in our online companion poll and comment below.
The online companion poll in which you can vote provides unscientific results, meaning it’s a tally of participating Poll Position users, not a nationally representative sampling.
Poll Position is committed to transparency and upholding the highest professional standards in its polling, explaining why we provide you with the crosstabs of our scientific polls. Crosstabs provide a breakdown of survey participants by age, race, gender, and political affiliation.
You can learn more about our polling methodology here.
