Parent perception on children's weight status : North Carolina 2005-2006

              Surveillance Update
Percentage of N. C. Parents Who Described Their Child’s Weight as Somewhat or Very Overweight for Children Ages 10 to 17 Years, by Child’s Weight Status and Sex 6% 5% 8% 29% 40% 73% 68% 79% 34% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% TotalMalesFemalesPercent of Parents Who Rated Child as OverweightNormalOverweightObese
State of North Carolina / Beverly Eaves Perdue, Governor
Department of Health and Human Services / Lanier M. Cansler, Secretary / www. ncdhhs. gov
North Carolina Division of Public Health / Jeffrey P. Engel, State Health Director / www. ncpublichealth. com
State Center for Health Statistics / Karen L. Knight, Director / CHAMP / ( 919) 855- 4494 / www. schs. state. nc. us/ SCHS/ champ
North Carolina DHHS is an equal opportunity employer and provider. 10/ 10
Parent Perception on Children’s
Weight Status — North Carolina 2005– 2006
The North Carolina Child Health Assessment and Monitoring Program ( NC CHAMP) is a surveillance system that collects information about the health characteristics of children from age 0 to 17 years. NC CHAMP is a follow- up survey of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System ( BRFSS) a telephone survey of adults, ages 18 and older. All adult respondents with children living in their household are invited to participate in the CHAMP survey. One child is randomly selected from the household and the adult most knowledgeable about the health of the selected child is interviewed in a follow- up survey. This surveillance update includes data collected in 2005 and 2006 on 3,266 parental surveys of children ages 10 to 17 years. Weight status is estimated from parental report of child’s height and weight and based on BMI sex- and age- specific percentiles from the 2000 CDC Growth Charts. Normal weight is defined as less than 85th percentile; overweight is defined as between the 85th and 94th percentile; obesity is defined as greater than or equal to the 95th percentile. Results presented here are for parents who reported that their child was somewhat or very overweight when asked “ How would you describe your child’s weight? Would you say very overweight, somewhat overweight, healthy weight, somewhat underweight, or very underweight?” For further information about NC CHAMP, please visit www. schs. state. nc. us/ SCHS/ champ.
Percentage of N. C. Parents Who Described Their Child’s Weight as Somewhat or Very Overweight for Children Ages 10 to 17 Years, by Child’s Weight Status and RaceNormalOverweightObese5% 6% 27% 76% 70% 36% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% WhiteAfrican AmericanPercent of Parents Who Rated Child as Overweight Note: “ Other” race category not reported due to small sample size. Percentage of N. C. Parents Who Described Their Child’s Weight as Somewhat or Very Overweight for Children Ages 10 to 17 Years, by Child’s Weight Status and Age GroupNormalOverweightObese0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Percent of Parents Who Rated Child as Overweight 5% 6% 6% 32% 40% 65% 73% 81% 30% 10– 11 Years12– 14 Years15– 17 YearsPercentage of N. C. Parents Who Described Their Child’s Weight as Somewhat or Very Overweight for Children Ages 10 to 17 Years, by Child’s Weight Status and Parent’s Education LevelNormalOverweightObesePercent of Parents Who Rated Child as Overweight 8% 5% 5% 36% 36% 70% 74% 78% 30% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% High School or LessSome CollegeCollege Graduate
The following graphs report parental perception of child’s weight status ( either “ somewhat” or “ very overweight”) by their child’s actual weight status ( normal, overweight, or obese). In general, parents are more likely to rate their child as overweight if their child is obese ( 73%) than if their child is overweight ( 34%).