Adults’ Top Kid Worries: Obesity and Bullying
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iStock/Thinkstock(ANN ARBOR, Mich.) — Rightfully so, American adults are worried about all the problems that children face these days, but probably none more so than the obesity epidemic, which can put kids at a disadvantage as early as their toddler years.
Of the more than 2,000 adults surveyed in a University of Michigan poll on children’s health, 55 percent ranked obesity number one.
Meanwhile, bullying came in second place with 52 percent, followed by drug abuse at 49 percent.
Poll director Matthew Davis says one of the chief reasons for the poll was to give health professionals, lawmakers and community leaders a better understanding of how to deal with the problems affecting youngsters in their own backyards “to improve and safeguard our children’s health.”
Here’s the list of the top ten concerns and the percentage of respondents who listed them as their major concerns:
- Childhood obesity: 55 percent
- Bullying: 52 percent
- Drug abuse: 49 percent
- Smoking and tobacco use: 47 percent
- School violence: 44 percent
- Child abuse and neglect: 42 percent
- Alcohol abuse: 41 percent
- Internet safety: 40 percent
- Gun-related injuries: 39 percent
- Teen pregnancy: 37 percent
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