Parental Accuracy of Child Body Size Assessments

Parents can contribute to the reversal and prevention of overweight and obese weight in children, but in order to do so, they must be able to accurately assess their own children's health and weight risk. The purpose of the current study was to determine the extent of parents' accuracy or inaccuracy in their judgments of the weight status and health risks of both their own child and of other children. In addition, demographic and relational variables were explored as potential predictors of bias in judgments.;The method included three stages to capture parents' levels of accuracy in different ways; parents were asked to rate their child's weight status in a survey, when shown a de-identified photograph, and when shown an identified photograph of his or her child. Parents were also asked to rate the weight status of other children using de-identified photographs. It was hypothesized that parents would show accuracy overall. It was expected that child weight, ethnicity, and the levels of relationship intensity and quality between parents and their children would affect parent accuracy and that child gender would not.;Contrary to the hypotheses, parents showed an overall tendency to overestimate child weight status of their own child in the survey condition, and a tendency to underestimate child weight status of children in the ratings based on photographic stimuli. This indicates that the direction of inaccuracy a parent portrays when asked to rate a child's weight status will vary depending on how the question is asked. Parents of average weight children showed the greatest levels of accuracy in the photograph conditions, and parents of obese children showed the greatest levels of accuracy in the survey condition. There were no significant differences observed in levels of accuracy between genders, ethnicities, and the relationship intensity and quality between parent and child. This indicates that child weight status is not indicative of the quality or intensity of the relationship between parent and child. Alternatives to using BMI as an indicator that therapeutic intervention is necessary are discussed. They include tracking weight changes over time, and noting behaviors that indicate the quality of nutrition and activity a child engages in.