Parents’ Perceptions of the Challenges to Helping Their Children Maintain or Achieve a Healthy Weight

Table 1

Characteristics of the study sample, by parent⁺ race/ethnicity.

	Total	White (non-Hispanic)	Black (non-Hispanic)	Hispanic	value
	(weighted %)	(weighted %)	(weighted %)	(weighted %)
Total	957	667 (64)	123 (15)	167 (21)	—
Parent gender					0.2247
Male	331 (32)	250 (34)	40 (31)	41 (25)
Female	626 (68)	417 (66)	83 (69)	126 (75)
Child gender
Male	473 (51)	326 (52)	61 (48)	86 (49)	0.7334
Female	483 (49)	340 (48)	62 (52)	81 (51)
Parent’s perception of the child’s weight					0.0017
Overweight	142 (15)	83 (11)	29 (29)	30 (17)
About right	677 (73)	473 (75)	84 (61)	120 (75)
Underweight	137 (12)	110 (14)	10 (10)	17 (8)
Parent age					0.0002
18–34 y	220 (31)	127 (25)	31 (38)	62 (43)
35–49 y	508 (50)	384 (56)	46 (34)	78 (44)
≥50 y	228 (19)	155 (19)	46 (28)	27 (12)
Child age					0.9334
2–6 y	262 (30)	189 (31)	30 (28)	43 (28)
7–11 y	289 (30)	196 (29)	41 (33)	52 (32)
12–17 y	406 (40)	282 (40)	52 (40)	72 (40)
Education					<0.0001
High school or less^2	289 (38)	138 (25)	53 (51)	98 (69)
Some college^3	238 (24)	171 (26)	37 (30)	30 (13)
College+	427 (38)	356 (49)	33 (19)	38 (18)
Household income
<$20,000	107 (18)	36 (9)	30 (33)	41 (35)	<0.0001
$20,000–<$50,000	236 (33)	129 (28)	38 (38)	69 (47)
$50,000+	543 (49)	458 (63)	48 (29)	37 (19)
Household composition					<0.0001
1-parent	243 (32)	130 (26)	66 (64)	47 (27)
2-parent	674 (68)	515 (74)	44 (36)	115 (73)
Number of children in household M ± SD	2.4 ± 0.1	2.3 ± 0.1	2.5 ± 0.2	2.4 ± 0.1	0.6544
Parent or siblings overweight	350 (35)	245 (35)	49 (40)	56 (34)	0.6479

Note. Boldface indicates statistical significance (). Data are based on a poll that was fielded from October 11 to November 21, 2012, using a nationally representative, randomized telephone sample (including both landline and cellular phones) of households with children aged 2–17 years. values for difference is based on the chi-squared test for categorical demographic variables and OLS regression for continuous demographic variables. Significance level . ⁺In this survey, the parent is synonymous with nonparent primary caregiver respondents. ¹Percentage of U.S. population estimated with survey weights to adjust for unequal probability of sampling; ²those with a high school degree or GED certificate; ³attendance at a business, technical, or vocational school after high school.