Many parents do not identify their child as
"overweight," but will select a sketch of a heavier
model when asked to choose one representative of their
child, new study findings show.
"Comparisons between images and sketches showed that
parents' visual perceptions of their children more
clearly reflect their child's physical appearance than
words they might use to classify the child's weight,"
study author Dr. Helen J. Binns, of Northwestern
University in Chicago told Reuters Health.
"So parents have a correct visual perception, but don't
consider that to fit in the medical diagnostic
categories," she added.
Previous studies have found that helping parents
recognize their child's overweight status and their
willingness to make the necessary behavioral changes is
key to their child's treatment. Parents who fail to
recognize that their child needs help may not be ready
to receive any related counseling or other
interventions, researchers say.
Yet, various reports show that many mothers - especially
those with young children - do not consider their overly
chubby children to be overweight, with some wrongly
believing that their child is "about the right weight."
In the current study, Binns and her team examined
parents' perceptions about their child's overweight
status and investigated whether sketches may be useful
in helping parents recognize their child's problem.
Of the 223 children studied, 20 percent were overweight
and 19 percent were at risk for becoming overweight.
Over half (60 percent) of the 2- to 17-year-old study
participants were under 6 years old.
Similar to previous studies, the researchers found that
many parents failed to recognize that their child was
overweight. Only about one third (36 percent) of parents
correctly identified their child as overweight or at
risk for becoming overweight.
However, asked to select a sketch representative of
their child, 70 percent selected a middle or heavier
sketch, Binns and her team report in this month's issue
of Pediatrics.
This was particularly true for parents of children 6
years or younger, the researchers note.
In addition to choosing the heavier sketches, parents of
younger children were also more likely to use words to
identify their child as overweight or at risk for
becoming overweight, and were more likely to worry about
their child's weight.
Overall, 26 percent of parents of overweight or
at-risk-for-overweight children said they worried about
their child's weight and 18 percent said a doctor had
expressed concern about their child being overweight or
gaining weight too quickly.
Parents of older children were less likely to worry,
unless they considered their child to be less active or
slower than his or her peers, or if a doctor had
expressed concern about their child's condition, the
report indicates.
So what can parents do to address their child's excess
weight?
"Start by setting a good example in relationship to
foods, physical activity and leisure time activity,"
Binns advised, noting, "your children are watching you
and will follow what you do."
Also, she recommends that parents "play actively" with
their children and "decrease the availability of
opportunities for sedentary behavior."
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References:
worldhealth.net
Pediatrics, March 2006
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