A new UK study indicates that many parents of obese children have no idea their offspring have a problem.
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Researchers based at Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital carried out a survey involving 277 children and reported that just a quarter of their parents recognised when their child was overweight.
Fathers tended to more generous than mothers, with 57% of fathers of obese children thinking they were “about right” as opposed to a third of mothers. Some parents were found to be in denial, while others had become desensitised to obesity and overweight. Interestingly, parents were more likely to recognise obesity in girls than boys, which ties in neatly with today’s widespread perception that girls should strive for thinness.
Misjudging weight problems was not confined to their children however. The researchers also found that of those parents who were overweight themselves, 40% of mothers and 45% of fathers judged their own weight to be “about right”.
Contrary to previous findings, the study showed there were no differences between the highest and lowest socio-economic groups for the proportion of overweight parents, or for parents misjudging their children’s weight. “The longstanding inverse relationship between social class and obesity has been lost in the UK”, said the authors.
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By GlobalDataAccording to the World Health Organisation, 16% of children between six and 15 years of age were obese by 2003, up from 5% in 1990.
