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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
09:36

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study

Published on: February 2, 2017

Parents' concern about their children's weight

Amy M Lampard1, Susan M Byrne, Stephen R Zubrick

  • 1School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA.

International Journal of Pediatric Obesity : IJPO : an Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity
|May 10, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Parental concern about child weight is often low, even for overweight children. Higher concern correlates with child

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric obesity
  • Child psychology
  • Public health

Background:

  • Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern.
  • Parental perception of child weight is crucial for intervention.
  • Understanding factors influencing parental concern is vital.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate parental concern regarding children's weight.
  • To identify factors influencing parental concern.
  • To model parental concern using structural equation modeling.

Main Methods:

  • 347 children (aged 6-13) and their parents participated.
  • Children were weighed and measured; parents completed interviews and questionnaires.
  • Assessed parental concern, child BMI, body size perception, and quality of life.

Main Results:

  • Low parental concern reported by 82% of parents of overweight children and 18% of parents of obese children.
  • Higher parental concern linked to higher child BMI and lower parental underestimation of child size.
  • Parental concern associated with child's health-related quality of life.

Conclusions:

  • Interventions for childhood obesity should optimize parental concern.
  • Reducing parental underestimation of child body size is key.
  • Increasing parental awareness of obesity's health impacts is recommended.
Abstract

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