Differences in Parent Versus Child Perceptions of Child's Dietary Intake in Normal Weight and Overweight Children

Abstract

Text: The purpose of this study was to identify differences in reporting of child’s dietary intake by the child and his/her parent. A food frequency questionnaire was administered separately to both a child and his/her parent. Children were asked to report their dietary intake on the food frequency questionnaire and parents were asked to report their child’s dietary intake on the same type of questionnaire. Participants were selected from children’s community programs. A convenience sample of 59 children (31 healthy weight and 28 overweight, 30 females and 29 males) ranging in age from 9 years to 14 years of age with a mean age 11.2 2.0 years and 59 parents (55 mothers and 4 fathers) participated in the current investigation. Analysis of variance was conducted for each variable to determine differences in reporting dietary intake of the child’s dietary habits between the parent and his/her child. Differences in reported total calories, total carbohydrate, total fat, saturated fat, fiber, and sodium (p 0.05) were found between children and parents and reported differences in calcium intake was not demonstrated. No differences were demonstrated in the reported intakes by the parent and child with respect to the child’s weight or gender. There may be dissociation between the children’s self-report of dietary intake and their parent knowledge of their child’s dietary, which should be considered when nutritionally counseling children.