Elsevier

Journal of Pediatric Nursing

Volume 31, Issue 2, March–April 2016, Pages 196-203
Journal of Pediatric Nursing

The Role of Parental Misperception of Child's Body Weight in Childhood Obesity

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2015.10.003Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The study surveyed over 14,000 parents over a 4-year period on their family's overall health and nutrition.

  • The majority of parents misperceive their child's weight category when the child is obese.

  • The greatest predictor for having an obese child was having a parent that misperceived their child's weight status.

  • The second greatest predictor for having an obese child was having at least one parent that was obese.

  • Children in the lower grade levels (K-3) were more likely to be obese.

Purpose

To investigate the accuracy of parental perceptions of their child's weight status and also the relationship between parental perceptions and the prevalence of childhood obesity in Mississippi.

Design and Methods

Data from multi-year surveys (2009–2012) with random samples of public school parents (N = 14,808). Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression were conducted with quantitative data to examine the relationship between parental perception and childhood obesity.

Results

More than 2 out of 5 parents misperceived the weight status of their child (k-12). The greatest difference occurred with kindergartners, 83.9% of parents categorized them as “healthy", when only 28.3% actually were. Parents who misperceived their child's weight were almost 12 times more likely of having an obese child.

Conclusions

Only half of the children in this study had a healthy weight (54.5%). Health care providers, nutritionists, social workers, teachers, and school health councils could play an important role in educating parents and children on how to recognize an unhealthy weight.

Practice Implications

The strongest predictor of childhood obesity was parental misperception of their child's weight status.

Section snippets

Data Source and Participants

This study used pooled cross-sectional survey data collected between 2009 and 2012 via telephone interviews by the Wolfgang Frese Survey Laboratory at the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University. During each year of the survey time frame, independent samples of approximately 3,700 Mississippi parents were collected. This survey was part of a larger evaluation of the Mississippi Healthy Students Act of 2007 and part of a multi-year report commissioned by the Robert Wood

Results

Of the parents surveyed, 54.4% were White (7,808), and 45.6% were Black (6,552), an equitable representation of the racial makeup in Mississippi. Demographic characteristics of the survey participants are presented in Table 1, Table 2. Surveyed parents (Table 1) comprised of 82.8% females and 17.2% males; the majority of parents (64.2%) were between the ages of 36–55, followed by 20–35 (19.7%), under age 20 (6.8%), ages 56–65 (6.6%), and over age 65 (2.8%). The education levels of parents in

Discussion

We found that 86.2% of parents misperceived their child's weight when the child was overweight or obese. The difference between parental perceptions of their child's weight status and the actual BMI was most striking with young children (kindergarteners). In fact, 97.6% of parents with overweight or obese kindergarteners misperceived their child's weight status. This is alarming because recognizing and addressing childhood obesity at an early age is critical to taking steps toward preventing a

Limitations

The study used self-reported height and weight data to calculate BMI, which may be a concern for validity and value in obesity studies, as individuals tend to report themselves as thinner, healthier and more active than they actually are (Kolbo et al., 2006). However, an assessment found that self-reported height and weight measures can be reliable and valid (Brener, Mcmanus, Galuska, Lowry, & Wechsler, 2003). The majority of participants in this study were women (83%); male respondents in the

Conclusion

Only 54.5% of the children in this study had a healthy weight, according to their BMI calculations. Overwhelmingly, parents of overweight and obese children incorrectly misperceived their child's BMI weight categories, with overweight and obese children being misperceived 86.2% of the time compared to 15.6% for healthy weight children. Current literature recognizes these findings, reinforcing the call to action for health care providers to assist in helping parents and children to correctly

Statement of Disclosure

There are no potential conflicts of interest, real or perceived, for the authors of this manuscript. Our sponsors had no role in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the report; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge Therese Hanna of the Center for Mississippi Health Policy, the Mississippi Department of Education, Arthur G. Cosby of the Social Science Research (SSRC) of Mississippi State University (MSU), John Edwards of the SSRC Wolfgang Frese Survey Research Laboratory, and the MSU Division of Agriculture, Forestry & Veterinary Medicine for their support and assistance. We also gratefully acknowledge research colleagues Troy Blanchard, Ginger Cross, Heather Hanna, Anne

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