The importance of parental knowledge: Evidence from weight report cards in Mexico

Prina, Silvia; Royer, Heather

doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2014.07.001

Cited by 54 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Unfortunately, our data do not reveal to what extent the BMI report cards are actually read and "processed" by the student and their parents. In Mexico, an experimental distribution of BMI report cards did improve parents' knowledge of their child's BMI, but likewise no BMI reductions were detected (11). In New York, failure to read and process BMI report cards could attenuate the effect of categorization on subsequent BMI.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Impacts of classifying New York City students as overweight

Almond

Lee

Schwartz

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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US schools increasingly report body mass index (BMI) to students and their parents in annual fitness "report cards." We obtained 3,592,026 BMI reports for New York City public school students for [2007][2008][2009][2010][2011][2012]. We focus on female students whose BMI puts them close to their age-specific cutoff for categorization as overweight. Overweight students are notified that their BMI "falls outside a healthy weight" and they should review their BMI with a health care provider. Using a regression discontinuity design, we compare those classified as overweight but near to the overweight cutoff to those whose BMI narrowly earned them a "healthy" BMI grouping. We find that overweight categorization generates small impacts on girls' subsequent BMI and weight. Whereas presumably an intent of BMI report cards was to slow BMI growth among heavier students, BMIs and weights did not decline relative to healthy peers when assessed the following academic year. Our results speak to the discrete categorization as overweight for girls with BMIs near the overweight cutoff, not to the overall effect of BMI reporting in New York City.besity often emerges early in childhood. Among 7,738 US children, eighth graders were four times as likely to be obese if they were overweight in kindergarten (1). Parents can be surprisingly uninformed about overweight and obesity status of their children. Sixty-one percent of parents in San Diego correctly identified whether their child was overweight (2). "Obliviobesity" among US parents may be growing over time (3,4). On the other hand, US school districts and states have begun distributing annual fitness and body mass index (BMI) "report cards" to students and parents. Such personalized informational interventions have appeal in economics because they can be relatively inexpensive, particularly compared with traditional programs that include the delivery of costly health services. As individual dietary and exercise habits are being established during childhood, it has been argued that obesity surveillance, reporting, and prevention interventions should likewise begin early.Opponents of BMI reporting argue that informing children that they are "fat" can be stigmatizing, hurt their self-esteem, and even encourage bullying. Such unintended reactions may prompt a cascade of behavioral responses that do not improve health (5). Additionally, BMI (weight divided by height squared) is routinely criticized as a metric of fitness. Whether BMI report cards are an effective tool for helping to reduce obesity is not obvious a priori. Large-scale empirical analyses are now feasible thanks to expanded collection of BMI data, data generated for the administrative purpose of issuing BMI report cards.Fitnessgrams were adopted by New York City's public schools in 2007-2008, reporting each student's BMI alongside categorical BMI designations. Specifically, each student's BMI is classified and reported to be "underweight," "healthy," "overweight," or "obese." Categorizations are assigned using the studen...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Impacts of classifying New York City students as overweight

Almond

Lee

Schwartz

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…[22] While BMI reporting is theorized to draw parents' attention to their child's weight status and motivate positive health-related action,[5] parents in this study did not report any significant changes in weight control behaviors following report receipt. The authors concluded that the information provided in the BMI reports was not enough to induce change in this context, and suggested future research to test the impact of BMI reports combined with specific actions parents could take to improve their child's weight (e.g.…”

Section: The Impact Of Bmi Report Cards On Students' Weightmentioning

confidence: 88%

The Report Card on BMI Report Cards

Thompson

Madsen

2017

Curr Obes Rep

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Half of states in the U.S. have legislation requiring that schools conduct body mass index (BMI) screening among students; just under half of these states report results to parents. The effectiveness of school-based BMI screening and reporting in reducing childhood obesity is not established and the practice has raised concerns about the potential for increased weight-based stigmatization. Recent experimental studies of BMI screening and reporting have not demonstrated a positive impact on students' weight status. However, the language and formatting of BMI reports used in studies to date have been suboptimal and have likely limited the potential effectiveness of the practice. This article reviews the recent literature on school-based BMI screening and reporting and highlights important areas for future inquiry. The present review suggests that evidence to date is not sufficient to support definitive conclusions about the value of school-based BMI screening and reporting as a childhood obesity prevention tool.

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“…For example, out of a concern that parents may be uninformed about their children's obesity status, some schools send home "BMI report cards" with data from measurements of the child's weight and height that were taken at school. In order to measure the effect of such programs, Prina and Royer (2014) conducted a randomized field experiment in Mexico that provided certain elementary schoolchildren's parents with information on the weight and height of their children. They find that providing this information raises the percentage of parents of overweight and obese children (N = 824) who correctly report their child's weight status from 6% to 20%.…”

Section: Imperfect Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%