Abstract

FLORES-PENA, Yolanda et al. Maternal actions and problems in managing the child´s weight and their association with the maternal percepcion of the weight and age of her child. Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2014, vol.29, n.4, pp.822-828. ISSN 1699-5198.  https://dx.doi.org/10.3305/nh.2014.29.4.7166.

Introduction: To properly perceive the child´s weight may influence the mother to start up changes to prevent and manage overweight problems. Objectives: 1) To assess whether the actions and problems to manage the child´s weight are different according to the nutritional status and the perception on the child´s weight; and 2) to assess whether the actions and problems are different according to the child´s age. Methods: 2840 mothers and sons/daughters (age 2-17 years) from North-eastern Mexico participated. The mothers answered: a) I feel my child is overweighted? b) What have you done to manage your son´s / daughter´s weight? and c) What are the problems? The children´s weight and height were measured. Contingency tables were constructed and the Chi squared test was applied. Results: When the mothers of children with over-weight/obesity properly perceive this situation, diet-related actions are taken (62.0% and 65.6%) (Χ² = 307.02, gl = 9, p < .001) and the problems are recognized (26.2% and 43.7%) (Χ² = 131.46, gl = 6, p < .001). The mothers of children in 1^st to 6^th grade are more prone to take actions (51.2%) (Χ² = 44.78, gl = 9,p < .001) and recognize more problems (21.8%) (Χ² = 61.74, gl = 6,p < .001) Conclusions: When the problems related with the child´s weigh are recognized, actions are undertaken and the problems are recognized. Interventions are recommended for properly recognizing overweight/obesity and providing information on diet-related actions.

Keywords : Body weight; Weight perception; Obesity; Over-weight; Mother-child relations.

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