title: Parental perceptions of their adolescent's weight status: the ECHO study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the correlates of parental classification of adolescent weight status.
  
  
  METHODS
  Measured adolescent weight status was compared to parent self-report perception data (n = 374 dyads) using multivariate analyses with interactions to identify characteristics associated with inaccurate parent classification of adolescent weight status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adolescent weight status was underestimated by 31% of parents. College-educated parents were more likely to underestimate the weight of their male adolescents (OR = 1.95) and overweight adolescents (OR = 4.0). Non-college-educated parents were 8.92 times as likely to misclassify overweight adolescents, regardless of the sex of the child.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parental perception may play a role in supporting adolescent's healthy weight-related behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA. hearst@umn.edu
authors.forename: Mary O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Hearst
authors.forename: Nancy E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Sherwood
authors.forename: Elizabeth G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Keryn E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Pasch
authors.forename: Leslie A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Lytle
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010465:Perception; D057566:Self Report