I know what structural functionalism is, but I can’t figure out how it relates to childhood obesity. Thanks alot for your help!

are you looking for explanations that might come from structural functionalists? If you are, i like to think of it as a bit of a guessing game, as you can sort of spin a lot of the potential explanations assuming you dont have to do any large scale research to back it up.

If i was to hazard an explanation from that perspective i would say increases in the definition and application of medical labels such as childhood obesity help to supplement and augment a growing biomedical field which will be one of the essential sectors of the economy going forward. It therefore makes sense to use childhood obesity specifically, because the sooner that an individual can be integrated into the system, the more controlled the relationship between the individual and the medical system will be.