Maternal and child awareness and expectations of child overweight.

OBJECTIVE

We investigated mothers' and children's assessments of body weight and their expectations about perceived body size in relation to overweight of the children.

METHODS

We performed a case-control study of 111 cases of overweight children and 149 controls of non-overweight children (mean age 8.1 years) and their mothers. All were examined and interviewed about their assessment of body weight and their perception of a normal, attractive and acceptable body size.

RESULTS

Case children were less able than control children to correctly assess their own body weight (p < 0.001), as were mothers of overweight children (MOC) to assess their children's body weight (p < 0.001). The majority of mothers from both groups wished their children to have a normal body size, but 18% of MOC wished their children to have an overweight body size (p < 0.013). The majority of case children, control children and mothers found a normal body size for boys and girls to be the most attractive and socially acceptable, but more MOC found overweight among boys to be the most attractive (p = 0.006).

CONCLUSION

Overweight children and their mothers show increased uncertainty in the assessment of overweight and obesity, but the perception of a normal, attractive and socially acceptable body size is not distorted.