Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Br J Health Psychol. 2025 Feb;30(1):e12765. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.12765. Epub 2024 Nov 14.
Parents infrequently recognize childhood overweight/obesity and healthcare professionals (HCPs) also struggle to visually identify it, potentially limiting the offer and uptake of weight management support. This study examined perceptual and attitudinal/cognitive determinants of child weight judgements amongst parents and HCPs to identify targets for intervention.
We used a mixed experimental design with parents and HCPs as the between-participants factor. Stimulus gender, age and BMI centile were the within-participant repeated measures factors.
One hundred and fifty-six HCPs and 249 parents of children aged 4-5 or 10-11 years viewed simulated child images. They estimated their relative size and categorized the weight status of each figure. Stimuli were photo-realistic figural scales based on 3D-scans of 4- to 5- and 10- to 11-year-old children varying in adiposity. Participants also reported their beliefs about causes, controllability and categorization of child weight.
Both groups accurately estimated the figures' relative size. However, categorization of higher weight figures was poor, demonstrating a mismatch between perceptual judgements of size and categorization of weight status. Lower levels of comfort with assigning 'overweight' categorizations to children, and a stronger belief that weight was controllable by the child/parent, predicted less accurate weight status categorizations.
Parental and HCP misperceptions when categorizing children's higher weight are related to attitudinal/cognitive factors, including reluctance to label a child's weight status as overweight and beliefs about whether a child's weight can be controlled by them or their family.
父母很少能识别儿童超重/肥胖，医疗保健专业人员（HCPs）也难以直观地识别，这可能限制了体重管理支持的提供和接受。本研究旨在检查父母和 HCPs 对儿童体重判断的感知和态度/认知决定因素，以确定干预的目标。
我们使用混合实验设计，将父母和 HCPs 作为组间因素。刺激的性别、年龄和 BMI 百分位数是组内重复测量的因素。
156 名 HCPs 和 249 名 4-5 岁或 10-11 岁儿童的父母观看了模拟儿童图像。他们估计了相对大小，并对每个图像的体重状况进行了分类。刺激物是基于 3D 扫描的 4 至 5 岁和 10 至 11 岁儿童的逼真体型比例尺，其肥胖程度不同。参与者还报告了他们对儿童体重的原因、可控制性和分类的看法。
两组参与者都能准确估计图像的相对大小。然而，对较高体重图像的分类较差，表明大小的感知判断与体重状况的分类之间存在不匹配。对将“超重”类别分配给儿童的舒适度较低，以及更强的信念，即儿童/家长可以控制体重，预测了更不准确的体重状况分类。
父母和 HCP 在对儿童较高体重进行分类时的错误认知与态度/认知因素有关，包括不愿意将儿童的体重状况标记为超重，以及是否认为儿童的体重可以由他们或他们的家庭控制。
