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A new poll shows a large gap between parents’ perceptions of their children’s weight and expert definitions. According to their parents, 15% of children are a little or very overweight, while national data suggest more than twice as many, or 32% of all children, are overweight or obese. The poll was conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), and Harvard School of Public Health
(HSPH).
In addition, only 20% of children in households that participated in this poll had a parent who was concerned that his or her child will be overweight as an adult.
However, it is estimated that 69% of adults are overweight, including 36% who are obese and an additional 6% who have “extreme obesity.”
Together, these results indicate that parents may underestimate their children’s current risk for being overweight or obese, and how that risk could continue to impact them as
adults.
The poll assesses a nationally representative sample of children ages 2 to 17 through the eyes of their parents or caregivers who know what the youths ate, drank, and did the day before the
poll.
Although nearly all parents agree it’s important for their children to eat and exercise in a way that helps them maintain or achieve a healthy weight, many parents find it difficult to do.
More than four in 10 children (44%) have parents who say it is difficult to make sure their kids eat this way, and roughly a third of children (36%) have parents who say it is difficult to make sure their kids exercise this way.
Between 3 p.m. and bedtime, children consume foods and drinks that can lead to unhealthy weight gain, according to parents. When examining what children ate in the afternoon, during family dinners, and after dinner during the school week, the poll found that more than half of children (60%) ate or drank something that can lead to unhealthy weight gain, as perceived by their
parents.
In trying to help their children maintain or achieve a healthy weight overall, parents face problems in the community.
For 43% of children, parents say the amount of advertising of foods that can lead to unhealthy weight gain presents a problem for them in trying to help their child achieve or maintain a healthy weight.
For roughly a third of children, parents report that they face the following
problems:
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many such foods are offered at lunch at school (33%);
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the costs of exercise equipment, gym memberships, or team fees is too high (33%);
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there aren’t good sidewalks near home, so the family drives instead of walking (31%);
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there are few places that do not serve these foods where the child can spend time with friends (31%).
“These problems parents face are issues that community leaders can address with policy changes,” said Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at
HSPH.
Family dinners may include challenges that contribute to obesity and overweight.
Even among those who ate together at home, many were distracted by TV, cell phones, laptops, or iPods.
While 70% of children live in households where the family ate dinner together at home on a given night, 24% had the TV on during dinner, or someone used a cell phone, a laptop, or an iPod during dinner. This means only 46% of children live in households where the family ate together without these distractions.
Research suggests that meals without distractions, particularly TV, are associated with lower obesity
rates.
Common family events may contribute to childhood obesity and overweight.
Many children have parents who say foods and drinks that can lead to unhealthy weight play an important role in family events. Nearly all children (96%) attended family events in the past year where foods with high fat or sugar content, like chips, fried foods, fast foods, or sweets were served.
Among those children, approximately half live in households where the parent feels that “family celebrations are a time to take a break from being concerned about eating in a way that can lead to unhealthy weight gain” (48%).
Sizable shares of these children live in households where these foods are felt to be “an important part of family traditions” (39%) and where “it doesn’t feel like a celebration” without them (32%).
Results came from a poll conducted in the fall of 2012 among caregivers of children in their home. Caregivers were primarily parents (87%), but also grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and foster parents. For simplicity, respondents are referred to as “parents” in this summary. A randomly selected child from that household was the focus of questions, and caregivers were screened for being able to answer questions about what that child had done the previous day in order to prevent biases in the estimates of children’s activities and consumption. Interviews were conducted Tuesday through Saturday so that respondents answered questions about the Monday-Friday work/school week. The poll was based on a nationally representative sample of households with children ages 2-17, developed from a randomized telephone sample (including both landline and cell
phones).
The primary poll was conducted October 11 to November 21, 2012, among a total of 1,018 caregivers. The question about reasons for families not eating together (Question series 13ba-h) was asked as part of a follow-up poll conducted December 12 to 22, 2012, among a total of 264 caregivers. For the October/November portion of the poll, the margin of error for total households is +/-4.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. For the December follow-up, the margin of error for total households is +/-8.25 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. In both cases, interviews were conducted by SSRS/ICR of Media (PA).
The research team consists of the following
members:
Harvard School of Public Health: Robert J. Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis and executive director of HORP; Gillian K. SteelFisher, research scientist and assistant director of HORP; Kathleen J. Weldon, research and administrative manager; and Eran Ben-Porath of SSRS/ICR, an independent research company.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Fred Mann, associate vice president, Communications; and Debra Joy Pérez, interim vice president, Research and
Evaluation.
NPR: Anne Gudenkauf, senior supervising editor, Science Desk; and Joe Neel and Alison Richards, deputy senior supervising editors, Science Desk.
For more informations
View complete survey
View charts
(MDN)
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