Research Article

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.

UnderweightNormal weightOverweight/obese
UW(=)UW(+) valueNW(=)NW(−) valueOW/OB(=)OW/OB(−) value

In general, does your child…
…eat enough?
 Sometimes, rarely or never15 (41)5 (11).00279 (11)44 (33)<.0011 (2)11 (7).207
 Often22 (59)41 (89)632 (89)88 (67)46 (98)144 (93)
…overeat?
 Never or rarely37 (100)40 (87).023640 (90)128 (97).01013 (28)114 (74)<.001
 Sometimes or often0 (0)6 (13)71 (10)4 (3)34 (72)41 (26)
…eat too fast?
 Never or rarely29 (78)37 (80).818559 (79)99 (75).35625 (53)106 (67).056
 Sometimes or often8 (22)9 (20)152 (21)33 (25)22 (47)49 (32)
…eat between meals so is not hungry at mealtime?
 Never or rarely16 (43)26 (57).228442 (62)77 (58).40634 (72)104 (67).499
 Sometimes or often21 (57)20 (43)269 (38)55 (42)13 (28)51 (33)
…eat at regular hours?
 Never or rarely1 (3)1 (2).8764 (1)2 (2).2321 (2)1 (1).369
 Sometimes or often36 (97)45 (98)707 (99)130 (98)46 (98)154 (99)
…refuse to eat?
 Never or rarely25 (68)39 (85).064574 (81)89 (67).00141 (87)130 (84).575
 Sometimes or often12 (32)7 (15)137 (19)43 (33)6 (13)25 (16)
…refuse to eat the right food?
 Never or rarely15 (41)17 (37).739264 (37)43 (33).31828 (60)62 (40).018
 Sometimes or often22 (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.