Parental Weight (Mis)Perceptions: Factors Influencing Parents’ Ability to Correctly Categorise Their Child’s Weight Status

Hudson, Eibhlin; McGloin, Aileen; McConnon, Áine

doi:10.1007/s10995-011-0927-1

Cited by 48 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…8 Souto et al 9 reported that up to 43% of mothers of 6-24 month old infants with a low socioeconomic level underestimated their children's weight status.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 A limitation of this study is that it did not specify whether mothers or fathers should complete the questionnaire, so it was not possible to establish differences in perception by parents' gender. In addition, this study sets a precedent regarding parents' perception of their overweight or obese preschool children in Mexico, given that, to date, it had not been described in this population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7 Some studies suggest that parents fail to recognize their children's overweight because of their own weight, the child's younger age and gender, among other factors. 8 In the low socioeconomic level group, many mothers see the fat child stereotype as healthier and happier versus the thin child, who is perceived as sickly. 9 Jeffery et al 10 pointed out that obese parents tended to underestimate overweight and obesity in their children.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Altered perception of the nutritional status of preschoolers by their parents: A risk factor for overweight and obesity

et al. 2016

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Introduction.Many parents have a misperception of their children's body size; in general, they underestimate overweight and obesity. Objective. To identify the difference between parents' perception of their children's nutritional status and measured body mass index. Population and methods. An analytical, descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted among parents of children aged 2 to 6 years old. Children's body mass index was measured, and parents' perception was assessed using a visual scale of body size pictograms (drawings of body figures equivalent to body mass index percentiles). Results. A total of 605 children and their parents were assessed. Seventy-four (12.2%) were overweight and 87 were obese (14.3%). There were 161 overweight or obese children, but 98.8% (159) of parents underestimated their children's nutritional status. Parents' underperception of their children's body size accounted for an OR= 2.1 ± 0.5, p = 0.002 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.32-3.32) for obesity and an OR = 4.42 ± 1.2, p < 0.001 (95% CI: 2.631-7.439) for overweight. Conclusions. Among parents of overweight and obese children, 98.8% (159) underestimated their children's weight status. Such underestimation by parents may be a significant risk factor for the development and/or persistence of overweight and obesity in their children.

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“…8 Souto et al 9 reported that up to 43% of mothers of 6-24 month old infants with a low socioeconomic level underestimated their children's weight status.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Altered perception of the nutritional status of preschoolers by their parents: A risk factor for overweight and obesity

et al. 2016

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“…Coded characteristics for normal-weight samples not shown, including those from Arcan et al, 17 Bikin et al, 95 Boa-Sorta et al, 96 Brann et al, 97 Hudson et al, 98 Jeffery et al, 99 and Muhammad et al 100 component based on residual variance). Effect sizes were calculated for subsets of studies grouped according to the categorical moderator of interest, and heterogeneity of the effect sizes (as indicated by Q and I 2 statistics 102 ) both within and between categories was tested.…”

Section: Statistical Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental Underestimates of Child Weight: A Meta-analysis

2014

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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Parental perceptions of their children' s weight play an important role in obesity prevention and treatment. The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of parents worldwide who underestimate their children' s weight and moderators of such misperceptions. METHODS:Original studies published to January 2013 were chosen through literature searches in PUBMED, PSYCHINFO, and CINAHL databases. References of retrieved articles were also searched for relevant studies. Studies were published in English and assessed parental perceptions of children' s weight and then compared perceptions to recognized standards for defining overweight based on anthropometric measures. Data were extracted on study-level constructs, child-and parent-characteristics, procedural characteristics, and parental underestimates separately for normal-weight and overweight/obese samples. Pooled effect sizes were calculated using random-effects models and adjusted for publication bias. Moderators were explored using mixed-effect models.RESULTS: A total of 69 articles (representing 78 samples; n = 15 791) were included in the overweight/obese meta-analysis. Adjusted effect sizes revealed that 50.7% (95% confidence interval 31.1%-70.2%) of parents underestimate their overweight/obese children' s weight. Significant moderators of this effect included child' s age and BMI. A total of 52 articles (representing 59 samples; n = 64 895) were included in the normal-weight meta-analysis. Pooled effect sizes indicated that 14.3% (95% confidence interval 11.7%-17.4%) of parents underestimate their children' s normal-weight status. Significant moderators of this effect included child gender, parent weight, and the method (visual versus nonvisual) in which perception was assessed. CONCLUSIONS:Half of parents underestimated their children' s overweight/obese status and a significant minority underestimated children' s normal weight. Pediatricians are well positioned to make efforts to remedy parental underestimates and promote adoption of healthy habits. Ms Lundahl conceptualized the study, coded the original studies, conducted the meta-analyses, and drafted the initial manuscript; Ms Kidwell coded a portion of the original studies, reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted; and Dr Nelson contributed to the conceptualization of the study, critically reviewed and revised the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript as submitted.www.pediatrics.org/cgi

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“…With respect to risk perception it might be important to consider whether parents evaluate their children's weight status correctly in the first place. Research showed that between 50-80% of parents of overweight or obese children underestimate their children's weight status (Aljunaibi, Abdulle, & Nagelkerke, 2013;Etelson, Brand, Patrick, & Shirali, 2003;Hudson, McGloin, & McConnon, 2012;Lim & Wang, 2013;Lundahl, Kidwell, & Nelson, 2014). This misperception might hinder parents to take appropriate measures to ameliorate weight status and to prevent potential health problems associated with overweight.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Adolescent Body Weight Associated With Parental Beliefs About Overweight, Attitudes Towards Food, and the Home Environment?

Krömker¹,

Stolberg²,

Müller³

et al. 2015

JFR

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Parents play a crucial role in the development of childhood overweight and also in controling overweight. This study investigated a broad set of parental factors, including general attitudes towards food (price, identity, cooking, ecology, mood, dieting, convenience, functionality), social cognitions concerning overweight (risk perception, self-efficacy for exercising and healthy eating, response efficacy for exercising and healthy eating) and characteristics of the home environment (restriction of snacks, regular family meals, parents involved in sports) and their association with their children's zBMI, i.e. adolescents between 12-19 years old. In a non-clinical sample of 842 parent-adolescent dyads we found that the zBMI is most strongly and positively associated with parental dieting attitudes and negatively with parents' self-efficacy to motivate their children to exercise. The zBMI is negatively and weakly associated with dislike of cooking, identification with the way of eating and the perceived benefit of healthy eating (response efficacy). Half of the parents assessed their children's overweight and obesity correctly, while the other half underestimated it. No difference was found with respect to all investigated variables (general attitudes, social cognitions concerning overweight and home environment) between parents who correctly perceive and those who misperceive their children's weight status.

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Parental Weight (Mis)Perceptions: Factors Influencing Parents’ Ability to Correctly Categorise Their Child’s Weight Status

Cited by 48 publications

References 40 publications

Altered perception of the nutritional status of preschoolers by their parents: A risk factor for overweight and obesity

Altered perception of the nutritional status of preschoolers by their parents: A risk factor for overweight and obesity

Parental Underestimates of Child Weight: A Meta-analysis

Is Adolescent Body Weight Associated With Parental Beliefs About Overweight, Attitudes Towards Food, and the Home Environment?

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