Mother's Lack of Concern for Overweight/ Obese Preschool Child's Future Weight Status: A Protective or Risk Factor in an Obesogenic Environment?

Abstract

Explore mothers' perception of their preschool-age child's weight status, concern about child's weight status, and measures of food behaviors (FB), family sense of coherence (FSOC), mealtime routines (MR), family routines (FR), and perceived economic strain (PES). Data for the descriptive, cross-sectional study were collected using children's anthropometric measures and interviews with low-income mothers (n=133) of overweight/obese children in 5 geographically diverse states. Frequency statistics described parents' perceptions of child's weight status and parents' sense of concern about child's future weight. T-tests compared FB and PES; Mann-Whitney compared FSOC, MR and FR between mothers with and without concern. Thirty-four percent (n=45) of mothers of overweight/obese children reported no future concern; of those 100% misclassified the child as being normal or underweight. Of the 66% (n=88) of mothers reporting concern, 79.5% misclassified the child as being normal weight. Mothers reporting no concern indicated significantly higher FSOC (x¯ = 5.8, 7 point scale) and lower PES (x¯ = 1.9, 5 point scale) compared to concerned mothers (x¯ = 5.5, 2.3 respectively). There were no differences in FB, MR, and FR between concerned and unconcerned mothers. Mothers of overweight/obese children often misclassify their child's weight status, which has been reported as a trigger for “no action.” However, this study found mothers with no concern had higher FSOC and lower PES, both proposed as protective factors against obesity. Further, family functioning was similar between groups. Additional research is needed to understand the role of no concern in an obesogenic environment.