The comparison of parent’s perception on weight, appearance and appetite of their children with objective criteria

Abstract

Objective: Parental concerns about the development and appetite of their children are common. Physicians do not trust the judgements of parents regarding their children. In this study, our aim was to assess parents’ visual perception of children’s body weight and appearance and judgement of their appetite. Then assessment results will be compared with objective criterion like body mass index (BMI) of both parents and their children.

Methods: One hundred and fifty children with the average age of 6.4±2.8 (2-14) years who attended to Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Medical Faculty, Training and Research Hospital, Child Health and Disease Outpatient Clinics for any complaints during January and February 2012 were involved in the study. BMIs of both parents and children and BMI percentile of children for age were calculated. Parents were asked to evaluate appetite of their children and match the suitable appearance of their children with a previously constructed set of seven pictures, reflecting physical development adjusted for age and sex varying from lean to obese.

Result: When we compared the real BMI percentiles of children with the visual assessments of parents, 55 (36.7%) of children were evaluated thinner than they were. The difference was not significant according to parents or gender of child and not correlated with the age of child, and education or BMI of parents.

Conclusion: The perception of the parents related to their children’s physical development and appetite does not objectively reflect the development of child. Talking to parents about body weight and appetite of children should be a fundamental component of child health counseling.