Maternal perceptions and self-perception of the nutritional status of children and adolescents from private schools.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and compare maternal perception and the self-perception of children/adolescents of their nutritional status, identifying factors associated with incorrect perceptions.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study carried out in Salvador, BA, Brazil with 1,741 students aged 6 to 19 years, classified according to body mass index (BMI) percentiles as underweight (BMI < p5), well-nourished (p5 </= BMI < p85), at risk of overweight (p85 </= BMI < p95) or overweight (BMI >/= p95). Students and their mothers answered questions on perception of weight, patterns of physical exercise and dieting. By means of multivariate analysis, factors associated with incorrect maternal and self- perceptions were analyzed.


RESULTS
Self-perceptions were correct in 64.7% of cases and 75.3% of maternal perceptions were correct. The principal factor associated with incorrect self-perception was age between 6 and 9 years (OR = 1.59; 95%CI 1.15-2.20). Among girls, being overweight and practicing physical exercise were characteristics associated with better perception. For boys, the presence of overweight resulted in an increased risk of incorrect self-perception. Among mothers, having an overweight child (OR = 3.02; 95%CI 2.05-4.46) and a child aged from 6 to 9 years (OR = 1.88; 95%CI 1.28-2.76) were associated with incorrect perception.


CONCLUSIONS
A failure to correctly perceive weight was very frequent among children and their mothers, especially when children were overweight. These factors could represent obstacles to correctly recognizing nutritional abnormalities.
Boa-Sorte
Ney
N
Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil. neyboasorte@uol.com.br
Neri
Luciana A
LA
Leite
Maria Efigênia Q
ME
Brito
Sheila M
SM
Meirelles
Ana Regina
AR
Luduvice
Fábia B S
FB
Santos
Jamille P
JP
Viveiros
Marcela R
MR
Ribeiro
Hugo C
HC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D010465:Perception; D012574:Schools; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires