title: Disparities in parent confidence managing child weight-related behaviors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe ethnic disparities in parental confidence managing child weight-related behaviors.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional survey of 59 parents of children with obesity between 4 and 7 years of age presenting to a tertiary care pediatric weight management clinic. Parents completed a validated measure assessing their confidence managing their child's weight-related behaviors (parent confidence score). Student's t-tests and linear regression analyses were used to determine parent and child characteristics associated with parent confidence score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Families were ethnically diverse with half being of Hispanic ethnicity. Mean parent confidence score was 159 (SD 66) with 71% of parents with parent confidence scores below the clinical cut-off for the measure. Parent confidence score was lower among Hispanic (mean 133, SD 67) compared to non-Hispanic parents (mean 184, SD 55, p < 0.01). Parent confidence score was most strongly associated with parental ethnicity (β = -0.39, p = 0.002, adjusted R(2) = 0.14).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parental confidence managing weight-related behaviors was low among parents of young obese children, especially those of Hispanic ethnicity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study highlights the need to assess parental confidence in managing weight-related behaviors as part of pediatric obesity care and to provide counseling to improve parental management of weight-related behaviors in a culturally-appropriate manner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, USA. Electronic address: tphan@nemours.org.
authors.forename: Thao-Ly T
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Phan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, USA.
authors.forename: Diane J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Abatemarco
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D062405:Motivational Interviewing; D010287:Parent-Child Relations / Q000208:ethnology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D020377:Self Efficacy
keywords: Child obesity; Ethnic disparities; Motivational interviewing; Parent confidence