title: Intergenerational relations and the family food environment in families with a child with obesity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Implicit in much of the literature on childhood obesity is a hierarchical, unidirectional understanding of intergenerational relations, which highlights parents' responsibility for children's food and eating practices.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Drawing upon alternative understandings from the social science literature, which offer more nuanced insights into family life and generational relations, this paper explores, through parents' narratives, the construction of family food environments and family eating practices in families with a child with obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were generated through individual, semi-structured interviews with parents of children attending a community-based obesity intervention programme in an inner city area in the North of England. Forty-nine interviews were conducted with 25 parental adults from 19 families.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parent's own concerns over their body weight and size and children's social experiences in a fat-averse society can both work to flatten the traditional familial, adult-child hierarchy. Both parents and children actively contribute to the construction of family life and family eating practices.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings may pose challenges for contemporary health promotion and policy agendas which presume that parents have the ability and resources to control and direct children's eating in a unidirectional and authoritative manner.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sheffield, Samuel Fox House, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield S5 7AU, UK. p.a.curtis@sheffield.ac.uk
authors.forename: Penny
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Curtis
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stapleton
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: James
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*