Obesity in childhood: associations with parental neglect, nutritional habits, and obesity awareness.

Background: The relationships underlying the dynamic between obesity and parental neglect in terms of nutritional habits and obesity awareness are unclear. Parental neglect remains a significant subject of concern that needs to be examined in the context of obesity. Methods: The aim was to examine the relationships between childhood obesity, parental neglect, children's eating habits and obesity. The study group consisted of 404 children and their parents from Ankara, Turkiye. As data collection tools, an Individual Information Form, Obesity Awareness Scale, the Parents Form of the Multidimensional Neglectful Behaviors Scale were administered. In addition, information on the children's body mass indexes was obtained by anthropometric measurements and the findings were recorded on the questionnaires of each child. Results: It was found that 98 (24.3%) of the children included in the study were overweight and 63 (15.6%) were obese. The results of the multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that in the underweight and overweight group, the parents' perception of their child's weight predicted body mass index in children, and in the obese group, along with the parents' perception of their child's weight, the age and gender of the child, eating fast, obesity in the family and parental neglect were also predictors. Conclusion: Practitioners such as nurses, dietitians and child developmentalists working in schools should consider weight problems in children as one of the indicators of parental neglect and should implement interventive efforts to enhance parental supervision of children at risk.

Attitudes of parents of children with ADHD towards genetic testing: Data from a Turkish sample.

This study aimed to examine the opinions of parents with children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder about genetic tests. A total of 540 parents living in Turkey participated in the study face-to-face and online. A questionnaire form prepared by the researchers was used as the data collection instrument. Face-to-face data were collected in different institutions in the cities of Izmir, Bursa and Antalya, while online data were collected through Google Forms. The results revealed that parents' views on genetic testing differed according to the sex and age of the child, as well as the parents' level of education and income, and whether the parents had genetic testing during pregnancy (p < 0.05). In the analysis, it was determined that parents' knowledge and awareness levels about genetic tests were generally low, while parents who reported that they would consider having genetic tests had concerns about the storage of their DNA materials, family conflicts that could be caused by genetic tests, and the compatibility of genetic tests with their religious beliefs.

A STUDY OF CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT AND VISUAL PERCEPTION IN SIX-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN.

Visual perception comprises established responses to visual stimuli. Conceptual development accompanies the development of visual perception skills. Both visual perception and sufficient conceptual development is vital to a child's academic skills and social participation. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between conceptual development and visual perceptual skills of six-year-old children. 140 children were administered Bracken's (1998) Basic Concept Scale (BBCS-R) and the Frostig Developmental Visual Perception Test. BBCS-R scores were weakly correlated with FDVPT Discrimination of figure-ground, and had moderate and significant correlations with Constancy of the figures, Perception of position in space, Perception of spatial relation, and the Total score on visual perception. Also, a moderate correlation was found between the total scores of the FDVPT and the total score of the BBCS-R.