Maternal Underestimation of Child’s Weight at Pre-School Age and Weight Development between Age 5 and 12 Years: The ABCD-Study

Tanja G. M. Vrijkotte, Tina M. C. K. Varkevisser, Daniel B. van Schalkwijk and Marieke A. Hartman
Additional contact information
Tanja G. M. Vrijkotte: Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tina M. C. K. Varkevisser: Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Daniel B. van Schalkwijk: Department of Sciences, Amsterdam University College, VU Amsterdam/University of Amsterdam, 1012 WX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Marieke A. Hartman: Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-11

Abstract: Background: Healthcare monitoring of child growth reduces with age, which may increase parental influences on children’s weight development. This study aimed to examine the association between maternal underestimation of child’s weight at age 5/6 and weight development between 5 and 12 years. Methods: We performed univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses with data on maternal perception of child’s weight and weight development (?SDS body-mass index; BMI) derived from the Amsterdam Born Children and their Development (ABCD) birth-cohort study. Underestimation was defined by comparing maternal perception of child’s weight with the actual weight status of her child. Associations were studied in two groups: children with overweight ( n = 207) and children with normal weight ( n = 1982) at baseline (children with underweight were excluded). Results: Underestimation was 5.5% in children with normal weight and 79.7% in children with overweight. Univariate analyses in children with normal weight and overweight showed higher weight development for children with underestimated vs. accurately estimated weights (respectively: β = 0.19, p < 0.01; β = 0.22, p < 0.05). After adjusting for child sex and baseline SDS BMI, the effect size became smaller for children with a normal weight (β = 0.15, p < 0.05) and overweight (β = 0.18, p > 0.05). Paternal and maternal BMI, ethnicity, and educational level explained the association further (remaining β = −0.11, p > 0.05 in children with normal weight; β = 0.06, p > 0.05 in children with overweight). Conclusions: The relationship between maternal underestimation of child’s weight and higher weight development indicates a need for promoting a realistic perception of child’s weight, this is also the case if the child has a normal weight.

Keywords: overweight; maternal perception; pre-school age; BMI development; ethnicity; paternal BMI; maternal BMI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/14/5197/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/14/5197/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:14:p:5197-:d:386482

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().