Reanalysis of Weight Changes in Behavior Modification and Nutrition Education for Childhood Obesity

Changes in percentage overweight for children who were providedbehavior modification were 1.7 times as great as those providednutrition education during treatment, and 2.7 times as greatby the end of follow-up. The superiority of behavior modificationto nutrition education was shown for comparisons of means inthree separate analyses. However, examination of the three studieswhich have studied parent and child weight changes when bothare offered treatment, in general, show that differential effectsof treatments are observed more reliably for the parents thanthe children. Possible reasons for these results are discussed.