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Updated: Jul 11, 2025
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Accuracy of Parent-Measured Weight and Height of Preschool Children at Home With Increasing Levels of Instruction
Divya Patel1, Sara K Vesely2, Dipti A Dev3
1Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Allied Health, Hudson College of Public Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA.
Insights
Parents using an instructional guide and video improved accuracy in measuring preschool children's weight and height. More research is needed for diverse populations and weight categories.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Health Measurement
Background:
- Accurate measurement of child anthropometrics is crucial for monitoring growth and identifying potential health issues.
- Parental measurement of child weight and height is increasingly utilized in research and clinical settings.
- Understanding factors influencing parental measurement accuracy is essential for reliable data collection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the accuracy of parental measurements of preschool children's weight and height.
- To assess the impact of increasing levels of instruction on measurement accuracy.
- To determine how parental measurements affect child weight classification.
Main Methods:
- 30 parent-child dyads participated, with parents measuring child weight and height using three instruction levels.
- Instruction levels included: guide (level 1), guide and video (level 2), and guide, video, and virtual monitoring (level 3).
- Parental measurements were compared to researcher measurements using paired t-tests and analyzed for classification accuracy.
Main Results:
- Parental weight measurements showed minimal differences from researcher measurements across all levels (0.1-0.3 kg).
- Parental height measurements were less accurate at level 1 (0.9 cm difference) but improved with video and virtual monitoring (0.3-0.4 cm difference).
- Significant overmeasurement by parents occurred for both weight (48.9%) and height (65.5%), leading to misclassification of children's weight status.
Conclusions:
- An instructional guide combined with a demonstration video significantly improves parental accuracy in measuring children's weight and height.
- Parental measurement errors can lead to misclassification of children's weight categories, particularly for those near category thresholds.
- Further research is required to validate these findings in diverse populations and for children in overweight and obese categories.
Abstract:
Background: The purpose of this study was to determine how accurately parents measure their preschool child's weight and height with increasing levels of instruction. Methods: Parents measured their child's (n = 30 dyads) weight (own weight scale) and height (soft tape measure) using three levels of instruction: instructional guide (level 1); guide, demonstration video (level 2); and guide, video, and virtual monitoring (level 3), which were compared to researcher measurements (electronic weight scale, Stadiometer). Paired t-tests were used to determine differences between researcher and parent measurements and between the three parent levels. Inaccurate classifications were calculated using parent-measured values for the four categories (underweight, healthy, overweight, obese). Results: Raw mean parent-measured weights (17.4 ± 2.3 kg) differed from researcher by 0.2 kg (level 1), 0.3 kg (level 2), and 0.1 kg (level 3). Raw mean parent-measured heights (104.0 ± 5.9 cm) differed from researcher by 0.9 cm (level 1, p = 0.005), 0.4 cm (level 2, NS), and 0.3 cm (level 3, NS). Across all levels, 48.9% and 65.5% parents overmeasured their children's weights and heights, respectively. Using parent-measured values, 29.4% of children were classified high while 70.5% were classified low. Parents were more likely to make errors if their children were on the borderline between any of the two weight categories. Conclusion: Findings indicate that an instructional guide with demonstration video is helpful in improving the parents' accuracy of their children's weights and heights. More research is needed to determine accuracy in population other than White parents with high education levels and children under overweight and obese category.
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