Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 26, 2026
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Parental Underestimation of Their Child's Overweight and Obesity: Influence of Feedback From a Health Care Provider
1School of Social Work, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.
Insights
Parental underestimation of child overweight and obesity is common. Healthcare provider feedback significantly reduces this misperception, highlighting its importance for early intervention.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Public Health
- Obesity Research
Background:
- Parental misperception of a child's weight status is a significant barrier to addressing childhood overweight and obesity.
- Early recognition and intervention are crucial for managing pediatric weight issues and preventing long-term health consequences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate the prevalence of parental underestimation of weight status in US children and adolescents with overweight or obesity.
- To assess the association between healthcare provider feedback and parental underestimation of their child's weight status.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the 2012 National Youth Fitness Survey (n=1571), a nationally representative sample of US children aged 3-15 years.
- Compared parent-reported weight perception with measured body mass index (BMI) to define underestimation.
- Employed survey-weighted logistic regression and marginal standardization to analyze the impact of provider feedback on underestimation, controlling for child demographics.
Main Results:
- A high prevalence of parental underestimation was observed: 82% for children with overweight and 44% for children with obesity.
- Parents lacking provider feedback were substantially more likely to underestimate their child's weight status (78% vs. 31%).
- The odds of underestimation were nearly 10 times higher in the absence of provider feedback (aOR=9.65). Underestimation was more frequent in younger children and boys.
Conclusions:
- Parental underestimation of pediatric overweight and obesity is widespread and significantly linked to the lack of healthcare provider feedback.
- Clinical communication regarding weight status is a potentially low-cost and scalable strategy to improve parental perception and facilitate early intervention.
Objectives:
Parental misperception of a child's weight status is common and may delay recognition and intervention for overweight and obesity. This study estimated the prevalence of parental underestimation of their child's weight status among US children and adolescents with overweight or obesity and assessed whether health care provider (hereinafter, provider) feedback was associated with this underestimation.
Methods:
Data came from the 2012 National Youth Fitness Survey (n = 1571), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of US children and adolescents aged 3 to 15 years. Parent-reported weight perception was compared with measured body mass index. Inaccurate parental perception (underestimation) was defined as a parent perceiving a child with measured overweight or obesity as "about the right weight" or "underweight." Survey-weighted logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of underestimation by child sex, age group, and parental recall of provider feedback. Predicted probabilities were calculated using marginal standardization.
Results:
Most parents of children with overweight (82%) and nearly half of parents of children with obesity (44%) underestimated their child's weight status. Parents who did not recall receiving provider feedback were substantially more likely to underestimate their child's weight status than parents who recalled receiving feedback (78% vs 31%). The odds of underestimation were nearly 10 times higher among parents without provider feedback than among parents who received feedback (adjusted odds ratio = 9.65; 95% CI, 5.57-16.70). Underestimation was more common among younger children and among boys.
Conclusions:
Parental underestimation of their child's overweight and obesity is widespread and strongly associated with the absence of provider feedback. Clinical communication may represent a low-cost, scalable strategy to improve parental perception of unhealthy weight and support early intervention.
Related Concept Videos
01:21Drug Dosing: Obese Patients
01:52Regression Toward the Mean
01:24Obesity
01:25Errors occurring during blood pressure monitoring
Several factors...
01:29Bias in Epidemiological Studies
01:25Pharmacokinetics in Obese Patients: Drug Absorption and Distribution