Parental perception of children's weight as a function of ethnicity/race, gender, and age.

We hypothesized that parental perception of their child's weight varies as a function of ethnicity/race, age, and gender. We enrolled parents from three ethnic/race groups of children, 2-18 years of age, attending an inner-city clinic with BMI between 25th and 75th or exceeding 95th percentiles. Parents rated their own and their child's weight and their level of concern about it. A total of 104 Hispanic, 104 African-American, and 102 Caucasian parent/child dyads participated. No ethnic diference in parental perception of child's weight was noted. Analysis restricted to obese children showed parents were less likely to recognize obesity in their younger than in their older girls (P<0.001). This difference was not observed among obese boys. In 80% of parent/child dyads, the parent and child were concordant on the assessment of the child's weight, regardless of race. Both obese and non-obese parents recognized obesity in their child 75% of the time. Parents of obese Hispanic children (81%) were more concerned about their child's weight than were Caucasian (60%) or African-American (65%) (P< or =0.06). Parents of three ethnic/racial groups recognized clinical obesity but were less likely to recognize it in their younger children. Most obese children recognized their obesity, a finding that may facilitate physicians' weight loss interventions.