Parent Perception of Weight-related Behaviors in Young Children with Obesity

Objective: Our purpose in this paper is to describe parental perceptions of weight-related behaviors in young children with obesity. Methods: Fifty-nine parents of children with obesity aged 4 to 7 completed the Lifestyle Behaviour Checklist (LBC), assessing how problematic they perceived their child's weight-related behaviors to be. Scores were compared among subgroups based on demographics, psychosocial factors, and weight status. Results: Half of children were Hispanic and 76% had severe obesity. Sixty percent had clinically significant LBC scores. NonHispanic children, children with severe obesity, and children of families reporting food insecurity were reported to have more problematic behaviors (p<.05). Conclusions: Weight-related behaviors identified by parents of children with obesity as problematic may be an important target of intervention to reduce the burden of childhood obesity.