“Childhood overweight and obesity: maternal perceptions of the time for engaging in child weight management”

Abstract

BackgroundThere is an increasing awareness of the impact of parental risk perception on the weight course of the child and the parent’s readiness to engage in preventive efforts, but only less is known about factors related to the parental perception of the right time for the implementation of preventive activities. The aim of this study was to examine parental perceptions of the appropriate time to engage in child weight management strategies, and the factors associated with different weight points at which mothers recognize the need for preventive actions.Methods352 mothers with children aged 2–10 years took part in the study. We assessed mothers’ perceptions of the actual and preferred weight status of their child, their ability to identify overweight and knowledge of its associated health risks, as well as perceptions of the right time for action to prevent overweight in their child. A regression analysis was conducted to examine whether demographic and weight related factors as well as the maternal general risk perception were associated with recognizing the need to implement prevention strategies.ResultsAlthough most of the parents considered a BMI in the 75th to 90th percentile a valid reason to engage in the prevention of overweight, 19% of the mothers were not willing to engage in prevention until their child reached the 97th percentile. Whereas the child’s sex and the identification of an elevated BMI were significant predictors for parents’ recognition of the 75th percentile as right point to engage in prevention efforts, an inability to recognize physical health risks associated with overweight silhouettes emerged as a significant factor predicting which parents would delay prevention efforts until a child’s BMI reached the 97th percentile.ConclusionParental misperceptions of overweight and associated health risks constitute unfavorable conditions for preventive actions. Feedback on the health risks associated with overweight could help increase maternal readiness for change.

Parental motivation to change body weight in young overweight children

“…While this apparent lack of motivation may seem surprising, others have clearly shown that parents are not concerned about excess weight in young children until it really starts to impede their mental or physical health (4) . The dichotomy between parental ratings of the BMI values that suggest intervention is required, and that of expert committees, has been demonstrated previously (24,25) . Over 70 % of parents reported that the 90th BMI percentile is the minimum point at which weight management should be initiated, of whom one in five indicated that intervention should not happen until above the 97th percentile (24) .…”

Validity of informed birth weight. Study of Cardiovascular Risk in Adolescents (ERICA) - Rio de Janeiro

“…27,28 A German study evaluated the maternal perception of the child's silhouette and showed that some of the mothers of younger children preferred the child to be with overweight silhouettes. 29 In the cases of school types, it was verified that in public schools the mean overestimation was approximately five times bigger than in private ones, even though the highest difference has been only a little over 20 grams. This finding might be related to the more elevated frequencies of adolescents of lower socioeconomic classes in public schools and of mothers with a low level of education.…”

Implicações da pouca preocupação e percepção familiar no sobrepeso infantil no município de Curitiba, PR, Brasil

“…Há implicações do papel da família na obesidade das crianças e, mais especificamente, do papel das mães 4,7,8 . O reconhecimento do excesso de peso das crianças pode ser o requisito necessário para a procura de ajuda profissional e promover uma melhora na adesão ao tratamento, mas a percepção familiar distorcida faz com que o excesso de peso seja percebido como normal e desejável, impossibilitando tal ajuda [8][9][10] .…”

“…Um estudo alemão que avaliou a percepção materna em relação à silhueta do seu filho mostrou que parte das mães de crianças mais novas preferiam que o filho fosse mais gordinho 10 . Outro estudo de percepção, norte-americano, apontou que parte dos pais não estava preocupada com o peso dos filhos e subestimou este dado 11 .…”