Accuracy of Self-Reported Height and Weight in Children Aged 6 to11 Years

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of first-, third-, and fifth-graders to accurately self-report height and weight. Self-reported and measured values for height and weight were recorded for 487 students. The ability to self-report a reasonable value for height and weight improved with grade level, but children in all 3 grade levels significantly underreported their height and weight. Only fifth-graders accurately self-reported their weight; therefore, using self-reported height and weight to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity for elementary school–aged children is not recommended.

Body Mass Index Accuracy in Preadolescents: Can We Trust Self-Report or Should We Seek Parent Report?

“…[13][14][15][16] The association between objective and subjective measures of weight, height, and BMI was strong, which is consistent with findings from some previous studies. 16,17 Besides, as in other studies, 13,16,[18][19][20][21][22] underestimation of weight and height based on subjective data was observed. In the present study, this underestimation can be considered small, as mean differences of less than 1 kg for weight and of less than 1 cm for height were observed for children.…”

“…Such a finding is surprising considering that older children possess the cognitive abilities to correctly assess their weight and height. 13 However, it must be pointed out that some other studies on children's self-reported measures came to the same conclusion, 14-16 indicating a tendency for older children to underestimate their weight, just as adolescents and adults do. 3,5 Such a finding can be interpreted in light of the fact that body dissatisfaction also tends to increase with age 23,24 and become more pronounced in early adolescence.…”

Quality of life and psychological functioning in pediatric obesity: the role of body image dissatisfaction between girls and boys of different ages

“…Consequently, the weight and height of obese youth were measured objectively by the nutritionist, whereas the weight and height of normal-weight participants were measured subjectively-that is, they were self-reported by the parents of children under 14 years and by adolescents. This is an important limitation because several studies have demonstrated that youth may not be able to accurately selfreport their weight and height [54][55][56]. Sixth, there are no Portuguese norms available for the SDQ.…”

“…It has also been argued that these measures do not allow the assessment of body size distortion and do not provide information about the accuracy of perceptions of current height and weight [58]. Although some studies have demonstrated that youth are able to provide an accurate assessment of their body size from an early age [59], others have demonstrated that they are poor self-reporters of their weight and height [54][55][56], which may hinder an accurate assessment of their body silhouette.…”

Avaliação da consistência de valores de peso, altura e índice de massa corporal no questionário Consumo Alimentar e Atividade Física de Escolares: o controle da qualidade da entrada de dados no sistema

“…This study assessed the quality of entry in the system, and not the validity and reproducibility of the report of weight and height, since the anthropometric measurements were confirmed before filling out the Web-CAAFE and the students were instructed to check the values written down in the class diary, unlike what has been done in other studies 7,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32] . Considering that, curiously, the tendency of BMI underestimation found, such as the effect of the underestimation of body weight and the overestimation of height, was similar to that reported in validations of the self-report of body weight and height among students 27,[29][30][31] .…”