Ideal child body size and parental perception of child weight in Mexican American families

Parents may play an essential role in the treatment of childhood obesity. However, to be effective in addressing the problem, they must see that their child is overweight. Evidence suggests that many parents do not correctly identify their overweight child as overweight. Weight perception may be related to cultural beliefs about ideal child body size (i.e., some parents may prefer a chubby child and believe that such a child looks healthier). We examined whether Mexican-American parents who prefer a larger child were more likely to fail to identify their overweight child as overweight, controlling for other predictors including child gender, parental weight, socioeconomic status, and level of acculturation. A total of 317 families with children ages 8-10 were recruited from an HMO. Bilingual interviewers collected height and weight measures, and recorded participant responses to parent's perception of child's weight, and ideal child body size. All measures were translated into Spanish and reviewed by a bilingual committee. Mothers and fathers with higher BMI scores underestimated their children's weight more (r = .11, p < .05; r = .20, p < .009). Fathers whose children were younger underestimated their children's weight more (r = -.15, p < .05). Using multiple linear regression, parents who endorsed heavier ideal child body sizes underestimated their children's weight, even when controlling for other factors (beta for mothers = .12, p < .04; beta for fathers = .17, p < .03). These findings suggest that interventions with parents should address parental preferences within the cultural context.