Factors associated with parental underestimation of child's weight status

Warkentin, Sarah; Mais, Laís A.; Latorre, Maria do Rosário D.O.; Carnell, Susan; Taddei, José Augusto A.C.

doi:10.1016/j.jped.2017.05.010

Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Brasil

Español English

sumário « anterior atual seguinte »

Sumário

Original articles • J. Pediatr. (Rio J.) 94 (2) • Mar-Apr 2018 • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jped.2017.05.010 copy

Factors associated with parental underestimation of child's weight status^☆ ☆ Please cite this article as: Warkentin S, Mais LA, Latorre MR, Carnell S, Taddei JA. Factors associated with parental underestimation of child's weight status. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2018;94:162-169.

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of parental misperception of child weight status, and identify socioeconomic, anthropometric, behavioral and dietary factors associated with underestimation.

Method

Cross-sectional study. Data was collected in 14 Brazilian private schools. Parents of children aged 2-8 years (n = 976) completed a self-reported questionnaire assessing their perception of their child's weight status, and sociodemographic, anthropometric, behavioral and dietary information. To measure the agreement between parental perception about child weight status and actual child weight status, the Kappa coefficient was estimated, and to investigate associations between parental underestimation and independent variables, chi-squared tests were performed, followed by multiple logistic regression, considering p ≤ 0.05 for statistical significance.

Results

Overall, 48.05% of the parents incorrectly classified their child's weight. Specifically, 45.08% underestimated their child's weight status, with just 3% of parents overestimating. Children with higher body mass index (OR = 2.03; p < 0.001) and boys (OR = 1.70; p < 0.001) were more likely to have their weight status underestimated by parents.

Conclusion

Since awareness of weight problems is essential for prevention and treatment, clinical practitioners should help parents at high risk of misperception to correctly evaluate their child's weight status.

KEYWORDS
Weight perception; Pediatric obesity; Parent-child relations; Overweight; Child

Sample characteristics	Category	n (%)
BMI/age z-score		0.37 (1.37)^a a Mean (standard deviation).
Sex	Male	502 (51.43)
Sex	Female	474 (48.57)
Age group	School-aged children	590 (60.45)
Age group	Preschool-aged children	386 (39.55)
Ultra-processed food intake	Consumed more than two times a week	356 (36.48)
Ultra-processed food intake	Consumed two or less times a week	620 (63.52)
Respondent	Mother	892 (91.39)
Respondent	Father	84 (8.61)
Mother BMI	Underweight/normal weight	681 (70.64)
Mother BMI	Overweight/obese	283 (29.36)
Mother age	>38 years (50th centile)	436 (44.90)
Mother age	≤38 years (50th centile)	535 (55.10)
Mother education	<college completed	118 (12.09)
Mother education	≥college completed	858 (87.91)
Absence during child mealtime	One or more of the major meals of the week	95 (9.73)
Absence during child mealtime	None of the major meals of the week	881 (90.27)
Perceived responsibility for child feeding	Always	699 (71.77)
Perceived responsibility for child feeding	Never/seldom/half of the time/most of the time	275 (28.23)
Concern about child overweight	Concerned/fairly concerned/very concerned	460 (47.13)
Concern about child overweight	Unconcerned/a little concerned	516 (52.87)

Parental perception of child's weight status	Child's weight status												Total within parental perception of child's weight status
	Extremely underweight		Underweight		Normal weight		Overweight		Obese		Extremely obese		n
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Very thin	3	20.0	1	5.0	23	3.6	2	1.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	29
Slightly thin	3	20.0	11	55.0	132	20.8	7	3.5	2	2.4	1	4.0	156
Normal	9	60.0	8	40.0	471	74.3	169	84.9	55	66.3	15	60.0	727
Slightly fat	0	0.0	0	0.0	6	0.9	20	10.0	24	28.9	9	36.0	59
Fat	0	0.0	0	0.0	2	0.3	1	0.5	2	2.4	0	0.0	5
Very fat	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0
Total child's weight status	15	100.00	20	100.00	634	100.00	199	100.00	83	100.00	25	100.00	976

Variables	Categories	Parental underestimation about child's weight status - n (%)	OR (crude)	OR (adjusted^d d Adjusted for child age, and mother age, education, and BMI (n = 957). )
BMI z-score			2.1^c c p < 0.001.	2.0^c c p < 0.001.
Sex	Male	257 (58.4)	1.7^c c p < 0.001.	1.7^c c p < 0.001.
Sex	Female	183 (41.6)	1.0	1.0
Age group	School-aged children	290 (65.9)	1.5^a a p < 0.05.
Age group	Preschool-aged children	150 (34.1)	1.0
Ultra-processed food intake	Consumed more than two times a week	162 (36.8)	1.0 ^ns
Ultra-processed food intake	Consumed two or less times a week	278 (63.2)	1.0
Mother BMI	Overweight/obese	153 (35.1)	1.7^b b p < 0.01.
Mother BMI	Underweight/normal weight	283 (64.9)	1.0
Mother age	> 38 years (50th centile)	212 (48.5)	1.3^a a p < 0.05.
Mother age	≤ 38 years (50th centile)	225 (51.5)	1.0
Mother education	< Completed college education	60 (13.6)	1.3^a a p < 0.05.
Mother education	≥ Completed college education	380 (86.36)	1.0
Absence during child mealtime	One or more of the major meals of the week	47 (10.68)	1.2^ns
Absence during child mealtime	None of the major meals of the week	393 (89.32)	1.0
Perceived responsibility for child feeding	Never/seldom/half of the time/most of the time	124 (28.25)	1.0^ns
Perceived responsibility for child feeding	Always	315 (71.75)	1.0
Concern about child overweight	Concerned/fairly concerned/very concerned	213 (48.41)	1.1^ns
Concern about child overweight	Unconcerned/a little concerned	227 (51.59)	1.0

Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria Av. Carlos Gomes, 328 cj. 304, 90480-000 Porto Alegre RS Brazil, Tel.: +55 51 3328-9520 - Porto Alegre - RS - Brazil
E-mail: jped@jped.com.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] * Corresponding author. E-mail:sarah_war@hotmail.com (S. Warkentin).

Brasil

Brasil

Factors associated with parental underestimation of child's weight status☆ ☆ Please cite this article as: Warkentin S, Mais LA, Latorre MR, Carnell S, Taddei JA. Factors associated with parental underestimation of child's weight status. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2018;94:162-169.

Abstract

Objective

Method

Results

Conclusion

Factors associated with parental underestimation of child's weight status^☆ ☆ Please cite this article as: Warkentin S, Mais LA, Latorre MR, Carnell S, Taddei JA. Factors associated with parental underestimation of child's weight status. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2018;94:162-169.