Parents often think their kids are slimmer than they actually are (2014-02-06)

Half of parents with an overweight or obese child think their kids are slimmer than they actually are.
Parental perceptions of their children’s weight play an important role in obesity prevention and treatment. The objective of a new study was to determine the proportion of parents worldwide who underestimate their children’s weight.

 

 

In 69 studies of more than 15,000 children, researchers found many parents with an overweight child thought their son or daughter was at a healthy weight or below. Others with an obese kid thought the child was normal or just a bit heavy. The studies included children and teenagers ages two and up.

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.

Adjusted effect sizes revealed that 50.7% 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 were included in the normal-weight meta-analysis: looking at 52 studies of about 65,000 normal-weight children researchers found 14 percent of those children's parents also underestimated their kid's weight, thinking the child was underweight.

Pooled effect sizes indicated that 14.3% 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.
A significant minority underestimated children’s normal weight.

For more information
Parental Underestimates of Child Weight: A Meta-analysis

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