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In America childhood obesity statistics show that almost 60 percent of children are obese. This statistic continues to grow at an alarming rate. 70 percent of obese adolescence become obese adults. This means when these children grow into adults they will have more health problems than they already do and their quality of life will decrease. The amount of children who are obese between ages 6-11 years old has risen from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent, in 2008. In adolescents ages 12-19 years old the obesity rates risen from 5.0 percent in 1960 to 18.1 percent in 2008. Last year the United States government stated that obesity and type 2 diabetes have become a national epidemic.

Childhood onset overweight and obesity and its’ associated health consequences are quickly becoming major significant public health issues facing America today. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define overweight as a body mass index (BMI) between the 85th and 95th percentile while obese is defined as BMI above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex . The prevalence of overweight children, defined based on 2009 CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics data, has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Between 1980 and 2006, the incidence of overweight among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% to 17.0% while overweight levels for adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0% to 17.6% .

Obesity is the condition of being largely overweight. Rogan Kersh has a PHD in political science from Yale University and is also a professor at Yale University. Kersh says, “The continuing rise in obesity rates across the United States has proved impervious to clinical treatment or public health exhortation,” in his article, “The Politics of Obesity: A Current Assessment and Look Ahead” (Kersh). This quote shows that despite treatment, obesity is still prevalent in America. Many Americans are not aware of the prevalent issue of obesity; obesity is an expensive disease to treat, and it is also likely to lead to severe health implications such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease,

According to “Childhood Obesity Facts”, the percentage of children with obesity in the United States has more than tripled since the 1970s. Today about one in five school-aged children (ages 6-19) is obese.” Also, “The State of Obesity” reported that childhood obesity rates have remained at around 17 percent for the past decade. Approximately 14 percent of children (ages 2 to 5) enrolled in WIC are obese. Nearly one-third (31.3 percent) of children ages 10 to 17 are overweight or obese, and 13.9 percent of high school students are obese. These statistics support that childhood obesity is a problem in our country.

The spike in childhood obesity has prompted great concern in the healthcare community and resulted in vast public health efforts aimed at reducing the incidence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that in the past 30 years, childhood obesity has increased by more than 50% in children, more than quadrupled in adolescents and currently over one third of children in America are overweight or obese, according to BMI (CDC, 2012).

Over the last few decades the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents has been steadily increasing in the United States drawing immediate concern for the coming generations and the overall health and well-being for society. While addressing this concern, a matter of significance has to be reviewed to undoubtedly warrant the attention of the nation and propose factors of government, community, organizational, and individual involvement. According to the Society of Behavioral Medicine, “Since 1960, overweight prevalence rates among children and adolescents have increased more than threefold. In 2003-2006, 16.3% of children and adolescents aged 2 – 19 years were at or above the 95th

According to the Obesity Action Coalition, childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States. More than thirty percent of American children are obese which makes this the most common chronic disease in children. A child is defined as obese by body mass index-for-age. If a child’s BMI-for-age is greater than eighty five percent and lower than ninety five percent that child is considered overweight. Children with a BMI-for-age over ninety five percent are considered obese. Children are becoming overweight and obese at an alarming trend. Many of the health problems adults with obesity face are becoming more predominant in children (obesityaction.org). Many kids are spending less time exercising

The product I have chosen for this discussion is the Fitbit. I chose this product for a few reasons. The first being I see many people using this device. The second reason is because it claims that by using this product you will take steps to get healthy your way. Now the main claim from the website is “Fitbit tracks every part of your day—including activity, exercise, food, weight, and sleep—to help you find your fit, stay motivated, and see how small steps make a big impact.” (Why FitBit) I see where this product could be beneficial and spark a change in people’s life if used correctly. Since it tracks many things, a persistent person could use that information to tweak workouts or meals. They’d be reminded of how much activity they were engaging in and would be able to see the change.

According to Free SWOT Analysis, Fitbit is a San Francisco established wearable device corporation who leads the way in connected health/fitness marketplace in 2007 asserting their device’s assistance individuals become more energetic, increase exercise, sleep improved, and control their weight. They have sold over 20.8 million devices as of March 31, 2015 and held a 68% share of the United States market by dollars in 2014, bragging users including the President of the United States. (Free SWOT Analysis, 2015)

The increase in obesity among children and adolescents is rising at an alarming rate. Between the survey periods conducted by National

Fitbit markets products to consumers that have desires to achieve goals, recognition, belonging, or greater self-actualization (Kotler & Keller, 2016). To foster a greater consumer psychological connection, Fitbit developed multiple products designed to offer greater utility and without being obtrusive (Kim & Shin, 2015). Likewise, the functional wearables allow personalization to reflect the identities and emotions of the wearers (Kim & Shin, 2015). As such, the favorable consumer perception of Fitbit and its associated products has placed the company as leaders of the personal wearable fitness industry pack (Time, 2014). In addition, Fitbit products produce greater involvement through tracking personal milestones. Moreover, Fitbit has excelled in creating physical stimuli with their products to track their health and a social stimulus with the ability to share fitness trends and achievements on social media. Likewise, users can use Fitbit products to on a greater psychological level to inspire friends and family to join group challenges. Additionally, Fitbit has modified consumer behavior and encouraged consumer learning. If desired by consumers, inactivity alarms reminder consumers to be active. When consumers reach fitness goals, consumers are awarded badges to reinforce positive behaviors. Even more, consumers use hedonic

According to Johnston, et al. (2013), childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States with 32.6% children of ages 6-11 overweight

Have you ever watched the news and saw a report on the proclaimed drop in child obesity and then went out and noticed that there are thousands of children who are over weight? Then sat there and thought to yourself, how could this be happening to our youth and why? Well, recently this year alone there has been multiple studies conducted to try and figure out why our youth are suffering from being over weight. According to multiple, news, articles, and studies, there are many factors that are contributing to the rise or stability in children being obese.

Childhood obesity is a national issue in the United States. "In the 1970s, 5% of U.S. children ages 2 to 19 were obese, according to the CDC’s current definition; by 2008, nearly 17% of children were obese, a percentage that held steady through 2010." (“Child Obesity”, 2012). “In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). That’s one third of 77.4 million children under the age of 18 in the United States alone. “Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates have tripled in the U.S., and today, the country has some of the highest obesity rates in the world: one out of six children is obese, and one out of three children is overweight or obese” (“Child Obesity”, 2012). “This is highly concerning, given that obesity in childhood is associated with the development in adults of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia; pulmonary and sleep disorders; and

Table 5-1 shows participants’ breakdown. Initially, 80 users registered to use the app and to be part of the study including 45 males (56.25%) and 35 females (43.75%). From the 80 registered users, 59 completed the whole registration process, 35 male and 24 female, meaning that they created a FitPlay Games account and also connected the FitPlay account with their Fitbit accounts and authorized FitPlay Games to access their step count information from Fitbit servers. Of the 59 users who completed the whole registration process, 28 of them played at least one of the mini-games (24 male and 4 female). Even when one of the requirements for the participants was to use the app during the 30 days of the field test, not all of them stayed active for the whole period of time; the average time of app usage was 18