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 When researchers asked parents to report their child’s height and
weight, the results suggested that about 16% of the kids were
overweight and 6% were obese.
But when parents were asked if their child’s weight was healthy or
unhealthy, only about 8% said they had overweight kids and only 0.2%
reported an obese child.
And parents who didn’t recognize a weight problem in their children
were less likely to take steps aimed at solving the problem, said
study co-author Dr. Christina Pollard, of the Department of Health
in Western Australia and Curtin University School of Public Health
in Perth.
“The inaction based on misguided perception is of major concern,”
Pollard said by email. “Taking action to improve diet and physical
activity during childhood can help children avoid a lifetime of
being overweight or obese.”
Pollard and colleagues reviewed data collected from 4,437 parents
from 2009 to 2012 as part of the Western Australia Health and
Wellbeing Surveillance System. Children ranged in age from five to
15.
Parents were asked: “Is your child underweight, normal weight,
overweight or very overweight?” as well as “What are your intentions
regarding your child’s weight?”
The majority of parents thought their child's weight was normal,
regardless of whether or not this was true based on body mass index.
Every parent who thought their child was obese said they planned to
help them achieve a healthy weight, as did about 61% of parents who
said their child was overweight.
But when researchers looked at all the parents whose reports
indicated that their children need to gain weight or lose weight –
whether or not the parents realized it - the picture was worse.
Overall, just 23% of parents of obese children planned to help them
lose weight, while more than half of them intended to do nothing.
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At the other extreme, 70% of parents of underweight kids had no
plans to intervene, the researchers reported online November 11 in
the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
One shortcoming of the study its reliance on height and weight
reported by parents, rather than measurements taken by clinicians or
researchers, the authors concede.
It’s also possible that some parents didn’t truthfully report their
perceptions about their child’s weight in the survey, noted Davene
Wright, a researcher at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and
the University of Washington.
“Someone who recognizes that their child is overweight may not be
willing to say so, even in an anonymous survey,” Wright, who wasn’t
involved in the study, said by email.
“Part of the problem may be that parents are worried about being
labeled `bad parents.’ Additionally, parents of overweight children
may hope that their child will `grow out of it’ or that their height
will catch up to their weight,” Wright added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1P5hd40
Austral N Zealand J Publ Health 2015.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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