Childhood Obesity Treatment Targeting Specific Behaviors

Inclusion Criteria

• •1\) Age between 4 and 9 years. We propose to use this age group since parents are in control of the eating and exercise choices of such children, and thus a program that focuses on parenting behaviors (i.e., positive reinforcement, stimulus control, parental modeling) should be developmentally appropriate. This age group also meets the Expert Committee's goal of intervening early5; moreover children aged 4 to 8 years have similar nutritional needs.
• •2\) Body mass index (BMI) \> 85th percentile BMI. Based upon the Expert Committee recommendations,5 children \> 2 years of age who are identified as being at risk for overweight (85th to 94th percentile BMI) or overweight (\> 95th percentile BMI) should focus on weight maintenance as height continues to increase. These recommendations are aimed at reducing z-BMI.
• •3\) Tanner stage 1 (prepubertal) sexual maturation status. 4) Self-report at least one of the following problematic behaviors:
• •1. Consume \> 1 serving of sweetened drink per day.
• •2. Consume \< 2 servings of low-fat milk per day.
• •3. Watch \> 2 hours of TV per day.
• •4. Engage in physical activity that makes them sweat or breath hard \< 5 days per week.
• •These behaviors have been selected because each has been associated with childhood obesity.
• •5\) A parent willing to attend treatment meetings. 6) Parent and child speak English.