Change in Misperception of Child's Body Weight among Parents of American Preschool Children

Abstract Background: Little is known about parental recognition of their child's overweight status over time. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of parental misperceptions related to preschool children's weight in the last two decades. Methods: Data come from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1988 to 1994 (early survey; n=3839) and 2007 to 2012 (recent survey; n=3153). Parents were asked whether they considered their child, ages 2–5 years, to be overweight, underweight, or just about the right weight. We estimated the probability ratio (PR) between the two surveys for parents perceiving their overweight child as overweight. Results: Percentages of parents who inappropriately perceived their overweight child as just about the right weight was 96.6% and 94.9% for the early and recent survey, respectively. As high as 78.4% of parents perceived their obese child as just about the right weight in the recent survey. The probability of overweight/obese children being perc...