title: Early-childhood obesity: how do low-income parents of preschoolers rank known risk factors?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine parental rankings of known factors related to early-childhood obesity and compare reports between parents of healthy weight and overweight children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Parents of 2- to 5-year-old children seeking well-child care ranked card-sort statements including risks, barriers, and motivating factors for achieving a healthy weight child. Frequencies and means of ranked factors are reported and compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 150 participants, few parents (7.4%) considered low levels of physical activity a top risk factor compared with other known risks. Inability to control the food choices of alternate caregivers was the greatest perceived barrier to achieving a healthy child weight (34%). There were no differences in rankings by child weight groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low-income parents of preschoolers are aware of high-risk feeding behaviors, but few recognize the risk of inactivity in their young child. Innovations that promote adequate physical activity and engage influential caregivers during counseling are necessary.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. raquel.hernandez@allkids.org
authors.forename: Raquel G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: Darcy A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Tina L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Janet R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Serwint
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011203:Poverty; D012307:Risk Factors