INTRODUCTION. Adequate self-perception of body weight status is the element of prevention and control of overweight and obesity. The purpose of this study was to analyse the self-perception of body weight by 13-year-olds in Poland with respect to the parents’ body mass index (BMI).
MATERIAL AND METHODS. Analyses were performed on the sample of 561 adolescent and their parents. Subjects were identified in the third stage of prospective cohort of children born in 1995. This study was conducted with the use of questionnaires for children and parents. Anthropometric measurements of 13-year-olds were done by school nurses. WHO growth standards were used as BMI references. Parents’ BMI was calculated on the basis of data obtained from the questionnaires.
RESULTS. Significant gender differences in self-perception of body weight status were found (p < 0.001). The inadequate perception of body weight was demonstrated by 36% girls and 38.5% boys. Boys had a tendency to assess themselves as “to slim” and the girls as “too fat”. Parental BMI significantly influenced (p = 0.002 for mother and p = 0.016 for father) the accuracy of the perception of body weight by girls. More than 2/3 of overweight girls, whose parents was obese or near to obesity, assessed their weight as a normal.
CONCLUSIONS. Parental BMI affected the adequacy of teenagers body weight self-assessment, particularly in relation to daughters. Prevention and interventions aiming to reduce body weight among adolescents should be addressed to the whole family and consider the adequacy of children’s body weight status self-assessment.