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Updated: Jun 9, 2025
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
The MapMe Body Scales: Validity and Reliability of a Biometrically Accurate, Photorealistic Set of Child Body Size
Bethany J Ridley1, Elizabeth H Evans2, Piers L Cornelissen1
1Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK.
Insights
Accurate visual tools are needed to assess child weight status. The MapMe child body size scales are validated, reliable, and usable for adults to assess children's weight, aiding in identifying those needing support.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric health
- Anthropometry
- Public health
Background:
- Adult visual assessment of child weight status is unreliable.
- Children are not routinely weighed and measured, hindering identification of weight-related health risks.
- Validated visual tools are needed for training, communication, and interventions concerning child weight.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate a set of innovative, photo-realistic color body size scales for children.
- To assess the accuracy and reliability of these scales when used by adults to judge child weight status.
Main Methods:
- Developed age- and gender-specific scales (boys/girls aged 4-5 and 10-11) using 3D scans of 388 children.
- Adult participants (n=238) rated figure adiposity and ranked figures by size.
- Assessed scale validity through adiposity ratings and ranking; reliability via 3-day test-retest data (n=151).
Main Results:
- Adults accurately estimated relative adiposity and correctly ranked figures by size, confirming scale validity.
- The scales demonstrated excellent short-term reliability based on test-retest data.
- The scales accurately represent body size changes related to adiposity.
Conclusions:
- The MapMe child body size scales are anthropometrically accurate, valid, reliable, and usable.
- These scales can be effectively used for size-related tasks and communication with adults about child weight.
- The tool supports identifying children who may benefit from medical or behavioral interventions.
Background/Objectives:
It is vital to identify children whose weight status means that they may benefit from medical or behavioural support, but adult visual judgements of child weight status are inaccurate, and children are seldom routinely weighed and measured. Consequently, there is a need for validated visual tools for use in training, communication, and interventions relating to child weight.
Methods:
This paper presents validation data for a set of innovative photo-realistic colour body size scales depicting boys and girls aged 4-5 and 10-11. Each age- and gender-specific scale consists of 7 figures based on three-dimensional (3D) scans of 388 children to accurately represent the change in body size caused by changing adiposity. To assess scale validity, 238 adult participants (105 men, 132 women, 1 non-binary individual) undertook two tasks: rating figure adiposity using a visual analogue scale and ranking figures in ascending order of adiposity (OSF Reference: gdp9j).
Results:
Participants accurately estimated the relative adiposity of each figure, i.e., they were able to tell the difference between figures and correctly rank them by size. This demonstrates scale validity for use in body size tasks. One hundred and fifty-one participants also provided 3-day test-retest data, which demonstrates excellent short-term reliability.
Conclusions:
Overall, the MapMe child body size scales provide an anthropometrically accurate, valid, reliable, and usable tool for size-related tasks and communication with adults regarding child weight.
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