Parental Misperception of Their Child's Body Weight Status Impedes the Assessment of the Child's Lifestyle Behaviors
Table 2
Comparison of eating habits of children within a given body weight group perceived accurately or not.
Underweight
Normal weight
Overweight/obese
UW(=)
UW(+)
value
NW(=)
NW(−)
value
OW/OB(=)
OW/OB(−)
value
In general, does your child…
…eat enough?
Sometimes, rarely or never
15 (41)
5 (11)
.002
79 (11)
44 (33)
<.001
1 (2)
11 (7)
.207
Often
22 (59)
41 (89)
632 (89)
88 (67)
46 (98)
144 (93)
…overeat?
Never or rarely
37 (100)
40 (87)
.023
640 (90)
128 (97)
.010
13 (28)
114 (74)
<.001
Sometimes or often
0 (0)
6 (13)
71 (10)
4 (3)
34 (72)
41 (26)
…eat too fast?
Never or rarely
29 (78)
37 (80)
.818
559 (79)
99 (75)
.356
25 (53)
106 (67)
.056
Sometimes or often
8 (22)
9 (20)
152 (21)
33 (25)
22 (47)
49 (32)
…eat between meals so is not hungry at mealtime?
Never or rarely
16 (43)
26 (57)
.228
442 (62)
77 (58)
.406
34 (72)
104 (67)
.499
Sometimes or often
21 (57)
20 (43)
269 (38)
55 (42)
13 (28)
51 (33)
…eat at regular hours?
Never or rarely
1 (3)
1 (2)
.876
4 (1)
2 (2)
.232
1 (2)
1 (1)
.369
Sometimes or often
36 (97)
45 (98)
707 (99)
130 (98)
46 (98)
154 (99)
…refuse to eat?
Never or rarely
25 (68)
39 (85)
.064
574 (81)
89 (67)
.001
41 (87)
130 (84)
.575
Sometimes or often
12 (32)
7 (15)
137 (19)
43 (33)
6 (13)
25 (16)
…refuse to eat the right food?
Never or rarely
15 (41)
17 (37)
.739
264 (37)
43 (33)
.318
28 (60)
62 (40)
.018
Sometimes or often
22 (59)
29 (63)
447 (63)
89 (67)
19 (40)
93 (60)
Values are (%) per category of parental perception; UW: underweight; NW: normal weight; OW/OB: overweight or obese; (−): perceived leaner than they are; (=): perceived accurately; (+): perceived bigger than they are.