Parents often seem to have a blind spot when it comes to their children being overweight or obese, finds a new US study published in “Childhood Obesity”. Most parents seem to perceive their children as having normal weight – when, in fact, obesity among children is rising alarmingly.
For the study, researchers at New York University, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, and colleagues at Fudan University in Shanghai analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). They studied two groups of children over two time periods: 3,839 children between 1988 and 1994, and 3,151 children from 2007 to 2012.
In both surveys, parents were asked whether they considered their child, aged 2-5 years old, to be overweight, underweight, or just about the right weight. 97 percent of parents of overweight boys from the first study group perceived their sons as about the right weight, with a very similar result from the second study group (95 percent). Parents with overweight girls did only slightly better; approximately 88 percent in the first study perceived their daughters as about the right weight, and 93 percent in the second survey.
What was particularly alarming, the researchers point out, is that the children in the second study group were significantly more overweight than the children in the first study group, yet the parents’ perception of their children remained relatively unchanged. This misperception was most pronounced among African-American families and families with low incomes.
One of the reasons for this may be that, instead of using science-backed growth charts as the standard with which to compare their child, parents are possibly looking to peers as the standard, said Lead author Dustin Duncan from New York University. Few parents were able to understand the growth charts and implications the data presented. But parental recognition of their child’s overweight status is paramount to obesity prevention efforts, the authors emphasize.
Duncan Dustin T., Hansen Andrew R., Wang Wei, Yan Fei, and Zhang Jian. Childhood Obesity. -Not available-, ahead of print. doi:10.1089/chi.2014.0104.
Picture by: Hilarykemsley