Helpful or harmful? Prospective association between weight misperception and weight gain among overweight and obese adolescents and young adults

Sonneville, Kendrin R.; Thurston, Idia B.; Milliren, Carly E.; Kamody, Rebecca C.; Gooding, Holly C.; Richmond, Tracy K.

doi:10.1038/ijo.2015.166

Cited by 75 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The stigma associated with a health care provider’s assessment of body weight is associated with medication nonadherence, mistrust of the provider, and avoidance of medical care (1). Although a weight or BMI measurement is sometimes necessary for medical reasons, discussions about these numbers are potentially harmful (2). We suggest that providers engage in conversations that emphasize health behaviors rather than weight, such as increasing or maintaining physical activity.…”

Section: Shifting the Conversation From Body Weight To Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both in naturalistic, longitudinal samples and in randomized controlled trials, various weight-loss efforts and strategies lead to long-term weight gain and the onset of obesity (4,5). Furthermore, a person’s perception (or in children, their parents’ perception) that they are overweight also leads to long-term weight gain, not weight maintenance or loss, regardless of their BMI (2), suggesting that awareness-raising conversations about body weight can do more harm than good.…”

Section: What Have We Gained With Weight Loss Counseling?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do No Harm: Moving Beyond Weight Loss to Emphasize Physical Activity at Every Size

2017

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Section: Shifting the Conversation From Body Weight To Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Have We Gained With Weight Loss Counseling?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Do No Harm: Moving Beyond Weight Loss to Emphasize Physical Activity at Every Size

2017

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“…Evidence of the effectiveness of these types of interventions is limited, and it is not clear that altering parental perceptions of child weight status has an effect on the child’s weight 11 . Although accurate parental identification of child overweight is thought to be an important step in challenging childhood obesity, an opposing view is that the stigma attached to the label of being ‘overweight’ may actually be more harmful than beneficial 14,15 . Overweight is a stigmatised condition 16 , and identifying oneself as ‘overweight’ is stressful 17 and associated with maladaptive coping responses 18 that could lead to weight gain 19 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental Perception of Weight Status and Weight Gain Across Childhood

Robinson

Sutin

2016

Pediatrics

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Background and Objectives Parents of children who are overweight often fail to accurately identify their child’s weight status. Although these misperceptions are presumed to be a major public health concern, little research has examined whether parental perceptions of child weight status are protective against weight gain during childhood. Our objective was to examine whether parental perceptions of child weight status are associated with weight gain across childhood. Methods Data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children were used to assess parental perceptions of child weight status and to examine changes in researcher measured child BMI-Z scores across childhood, from 4 to 13 years old. 3,557 Australian children and their parents participated. Results Children whose parents perceived their weight as being ‘overweight’, as opposed to ‘about the right weight’, gained more weight (increase in BMI-Z score) from baseline to follow up in all analyses. This finding did not depend on the actual weight of the child; the association between perceiving one’s child as being overweight and future weight gain was similar among children whose parents accurately and inaccurately believed their child was overweight. Conclusions Contrary to popular belief, parental identification of child overweight is not protective against further weight gain. Rather, it is associated with more weight gain across childhood. Further research is needed to understand how parental perceptions of child weight may counter-intuitively contribute to obesity.

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“…39 A further complication from recent literature is evidence that adolescent misperception of weight status might protect them from future weight gain or from unhealthy weight-related behaviors and depression. 42,43 Our study had several limitations. First, the repeated cross-sectional study design was observation and therefore did not permit assessment of causal direction as might have been possible with longitudinal data.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends of Child's Weight Perception by Children, Parents, and Healthcare Professionals during the Time of Terminology Change in Childhood Obesity in the United States, 2005–2014

et al. 2016

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Objective: To investigate the changes on self-and parental weight perceptions and parental communication with healthcare professionals (HCPs) in the United States during the mid-2000s period when the terminology changed for classifications of childhood obesity/overweight.Methods: A repeated cross-sectional study was conducted with 6799 children aged 8-15 years with the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2014. BMI was calculated from objectively measured heights and weights, and children were classified as normal/underweight, overweight or obese, using the new terminology. Children reported their own weight status. Parents reported their child's weight status and reported how HCPs described their children's weight status. Logistic regressions were used to investigate changes in weight perceptions among overweight/obese children themselves and their parents and parental communication with HCPs about children's overweight/obesity status during the time of the terminology change.Results Conclusions: Although the terminology change about childhood obesity/overweight was associated with increased communication about child's weight status by HCPs, the accuracy of weight perceptions among obese/overweight children or their parents did not improve or declined.

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Helpful or harmful? Prospective association between weight misperception and weight gain among overweight and obese adolescents and young adults

Cited by 75 publications

References 29 publications

Do No Harm: Moving Beyond Weight Loss to Emphasize Physical Activity at Every Size

Do No Harm: Moving Beyond Weight Loss to Emphasize Physical Activity at Every Size

Parental Perception of Weight Status and Weight Gain Across Childhood

Trends of Child's Weight Perception by Children, Parents, and Healthcare Professionals during the Time of Terminology Change in Childhood Obesity in the United States, 2005–2014

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