PARENTAL PERCEPTION OF BODY WEIGHT IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN AND AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SELECTED PARENT-RELATED FACTORS AND THE ASSESSMENT OF THEIR CHILDREN'S WEIGHT.

INTRODUCTION

The efforts parents make to maintain the correct body weight in children indicates parental awareness of overweight and obesity-related health risks.

AIM

The objective of the analysis was to define the accuracy of the appraisal of weight-to-height proportions in preschool children, as assessed by their parents and to analyse the connection of selected parental factors with the assessment conducted.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Data were collected from 230 children (121 males and 109 females aged 6.28 ± 0.56 years) attending preschools in the city of Wroclaw, Poland. Body height and weight were measured to calculate BMI; cut-offs referenced by the International Obesity Task Force were used to determine weight status (underweight, overweight, obese). The participants' parents completed a weight-height assessment of their child and provided information on how often the child's body weight was checked. Cohen's kappa coefficient was used as a statistical measure of inter-rater agreement between actual child weight and parental perception of child weight. Selected parental factors influencing the correctness of assessing child body weight was tested using the chi-square test.

RESULTS

This study showed that 42.1% of underweight children and 60.9% overweight and obese children are perceived as having normal weight. In the group of children with normal weight-to-height proportions, 13.3% of the parents declared their normal-weight children to be underweight. No relationship was found in the study between the correct assessment of body weight and the parents' own body weight, their education, or such factors as sex and the frequency of checking the child's body weight.

CONCLUSIONS

The incompatibility between actual and perceived weight status indicates the need for health education among parents in assessing and monitoring the child's body weight during the developmental period.