A Father's Response to Having a Child who is Overweight/Obese

Study ObjectiveThe objective of this qualitative study was to develop a theory to understand a father's response to having a child who is overweight or obese. This study was pursued for four reasons: 1) The literature is rich with studies that explore the influences of the mother/child interaction as it relates to weight. 2) Studies exploring the influences of the parent/child perspective, as they relate to weight of the child, tend to focus on maternal influences, while largely ignoring the paternal impact. 3) The limited number of father/child interaction studies suggests that researchers see this relationship as insignificant. 4) Studies that do explore the father's influence tend to look only at paternal genetic factors which contribute to the child's weight.Statement of MethodsA Grounded Theory research design was utilized to develop a theory to understand a father's response to having a child who is overweight or obese. The fathers (n=12) were recruited from a family medical practice in Upstate New York. Using a two‐component approach, demographic information was obtained, followed by a semi‐structured individual interview to understand each father's response. All were the biological fathers and married, with two in the process of divorce. The mean age (n=10) was 42.6 years (two fathers refused to report their age). Eleven fathers were Caucasian and one was Hispanic/Latino. The mean age of the children, all of whom were >85% for weight (n=13, 77%M) was 9.6 years. One father had two children who met the research criteria.Summary of ResultsThe interviews revealed the complex, multi‐dimensional nature of identifying aspects of the father's response to his child's overweight or obese status. From the interviews, six themes evolved: 1) Fathers worry about their child being overweight or obese related to psychological and physical health. 2) Fathers experience confusion as to the cause of their child being overweight. 3) Fathers minimize their impact on their child's weight and eating behaviors. 4) Fathers become overwhelmed and non‐functional when attempting to address their child's overweight or obesity. 5) Fathers defer responsibility for their child's weight to others when they don't know how to help their child manage weight. 6) Fathers engage with their child's weight issues when they can cognitively and/or emotionally understand what the child is feeling. The Theory of Interactive Factors That Lead to a Father's Response (TIF) was developed.Conclusion StatementLimited research regarding the father's influence on a child's weight has been conducted. With fathers making up an estimated 16% of stay‐at‐home parents, researchers are becoming increasingly interested in the role that fathers play. The TIF provides a framework that increases the understanding of motivational factors of fathers for affective and cognitive engagement.Support or Funding InformationNone