Cattelino E, Bina M, Skanjeti A M, Calandri E
Department of Human and Social Science, University of Aosta Valley, Aosta, Italy.
Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Child Care Health Dev. 2015 Nov;41(6):1098-105. doi: 10.1111/cch.12216. Epub 2014 Nov 17.
Body perception has been mainly studied in adolescents and adults in relation to eating disorders and obesity because such conditions are usually associated with distortion in the perception of body size. The development of body perception in children was rather neglected despite the relevance of this issue in understanding the aetiology of health eating problems. The main aim of this study was to investigate body weight and body height perception in children by gender, age and body mass index (BMI), taking into account differences among underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obese children.
A school-based sample of 572 Italian children (49% boys) aged 6-10 were involved in a cross-sectional survey. Current weight and height were measured by standard protocols, and BMI was calculated and converted in centile categories using the Italian growth curves for children. Perceived weight and height were assessed using visual methods (figures representing children of different weight and height).
About a third of the children do not show to have an accurate perception of their weight and height (weight: 36%; height: 32%): as for weight, an error of underestimation prevails and as for height, an error of overestimation prevails. In general, children who have different weight and height from the average tend to perceive their physical characteristics closer to average. However, overweight children underestimate their weight much more than obese children.
Distortions in the perception of their physical features, weight and height, appear to be related to the aesthetic models of Western culture. The tendency to underestimate weight, particularly in overweight children, has implications in interventions for health promotion and healthy lifestyle in school-aged children.
身体感知主要在青少年和成年人中针对饮食失调和肥胖进行研究，因为这些情况通常与身体大小感知的扭曲有关。尽管儿童身体感知的发展在理解健康饮食问题的病因方面具有相关性，但这一问题却相当被忽视。本研究的主要目的是按性别、年龄和体重指数（BMI）调查儿童对体重和身高的感知，并考虑体重过轻、健康体重、超重和肥胖儿童之间的差异。
对572名6至10岁的意大利儿童（49%为男孩）进行了一项基于学校的横断面调查。按照标准方案测量当前体重和身高，并根据意大利儿童生长曲线计算BMI并转换为百分位数类别。使用视觉方法（代表不同体重和身高儿童的图形）评估感知到的体重和身高。
约三分之一的儿童对自己的体重和身高没有准确的感知（体重：36%；身高：32%）：就体重而言，普遍存在低估误差，就身高而言，普遍存在高估误差。一般来说，体重和身高与平均水平不同的儿童往往会将自己的身体特征感知得更接近平均水平。然而，超重儿童比肥胖儿童更严重地低估自己的体重。
对身体特征、体重和身高的感知扭曲似乎与西方文化的审美模式有关。低估体重的倾向，尤其是超重儿童中的这种倾向，对学龄儿童的健康促进和健康生活方式干预具有影响。
