Study looks at parent perceptions of child obesity | Centre for Community Child Health

Watch Professor Wake's interview on The Circle

A study on parent perceptions of child obesity has been published in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity.

The study, ‘At what BMI are parents of pre-schoolers concerned? National cross-sectional study’ was led by the Centre for Community Child Health’s Professor Melissa Wake, drawing on data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

The study looked at the relationship between a child’s BMI (body mass index) and parent concern. Many parents were concerned about their pre-schoolers’ weight – but their concern was related only modestly to the child’s actual body mass index, and was not triggered by any definable BMI threshold.

Read the study’s full abstract.

See the recent media coverage from the study:

Interview with Professor Melissa Wake, The Circle, Channel Ten, 3 August 2011
The Canberra Times, 25 July 2011
Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, 25 July 2011
Brisbane Times, 25 July 2011