Parental Misperception of Their Child's Body Weight Status Impedes the Assessment of the Child's Lifestyle Behaviors
Table 1
Characteristics of the subjects.
Underweight
Normal weight
Overweight/obese
UW(=) ()
UW(+) ()
value
NW(=) ()
NW(−) ()
value
OW/OB(=) ()
OW/OB(−) ()
value
Children
Gender
Male
18 (49)
24 (52)
.750
320 (45)
69 (52)
.124
19 (40)
86 (55)
.070
Female
19 (51)
22 (48)
391 (55)
63 (48)
28 (60)
69 (45)
Age, in years
6.3 (6.2–6.4)
6.2 (6.1–6.3)
.054
6.2 (6.2-6.2)
6.2 (6.2-6.3)
.776
6.3 (6.2–6.4)
6.2 (6.2-6.3)
.383
BMI, in percentile
1.7 (1.2–2.2)
1.9 (1.4–2.4)
.567
49.7 (48.0–51.3)
32.4 (28.6–36.3)
<.001
97.2 (96.3–98.2)
91.4 (90.7–92.0)
<.001
Parent
Age
years old
17 (46)
28 (61)
.175
329 (46)
65 (49)
.548
23 (49)
74 (48)
.886
years old
20 (54)
18 (39)
380 (54)
67 (51)
24 (51)
81 (52)
Immigrant
No
24 (65)
39 (85)
.035
548 (77)
103 (79)
.645
32 (68)
111 (72)
.641
Yes
13 (35)
7 (15)
160 (23)
27 (21)
15 (32)
44 (28)
Highest diploma obtained
High school or less
8 (22)
17 (37)
.130
242 (34)
33 (25)
.040
21 (45)
60 (39)
.464
Post-secondary
29 (78)
29 (63)
467 (66)
99 (75)
26 (55)
95 (61)
Results are (% per body weight category) for categorical and mean score (95% confidence interval) for continuous variables; BMI: body mass index; UW: underweight; NW: normal weight; OW/OB: overweight or obese; (−): perceived leaner than they are; (=): perceived accurately; (+): perceived bigger than they are. Number of subjects per category presented at the top of each column is the maximal number and is accurate for most categorical variables and all continuous variables. For precise number of subjects, calculation of subjects per category can be performed.
