Obesity in children and adolescents is a serious issue with many health problems and social problems that carry on into adulthood. Obesity is typically defined in terms of body mass index; this reflects the ratio between weight and height. While there are various criteria, a BMI at or above a certain percentile (85th or 95th) for age and gender is often employed to define overweight and obesity (Wicks-Nelson & Israel, 2003, p.382). Normal BMI is 19-25, overweight is 25-30, and obesity is deemed to exist when BMI exceeds 30 (Morrissette & Taylor, 2002, p. 19). Excessive overweight in puberty was associated with higher than expected morbidity and mortality in adult life (Morrissette & Taylor, 2002, p. 19). When you think of childhood disorders you think of ADHD and conduct disorders, but rarely is childhood obesity brought into that realm of disorders. Before deciding to do research on this subject for my paper, I sadly never really thought of childhood obesity as possibly......
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