Table 2.
Comparison of eating habits of children within a given body weight group perceived accurately or not.
| Underweight | Normal weight | Overweight/obese | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UW(=) | UW(+) | P value | NW(=) | NW(−) | P value | OW/OB(=) | OW/OB(−) | P value | |
| In general, does your child… | |||||||||
| …eat enough? | |||||||||
| Sometimes, rarely or never | 15 (41) | 5 (11) | .002 | 79 (11) | 44 (33) | <.001 | 1 (2) | 11 (7) | .207 |
| Often | 22 (59) | 41 (89) | 632 (89) | 88 (67) | 46 (98) | 144 (93) | |||
| …overeat? | |||||||||
| Never or rarely | 37 (100) | 40 (87) | .023 | 640 (90) | 128 (97) | .010 | 13 (28) | 114 (74) | <.001 |
| Sometimes or often | 0 (0) | 6 (13) | 71 (10) | 4 (3) | 34 (72) | 41 (26) | |||
| …eat too fast? | |||||||||
| Never or rarely | 29 (78) | 37 (80) | .818 | 559 (79) | 99 (75) | .356 | 25 (53) | 106 (67) | .056 |
| Sometimes or often | 8 (22) | 9 (20) | 152 (21) | 33 (25) | 22 (47) | 49 (32) | |||
| …eat between meals so is not hungry at mealtime? | |||||||||
| Never or rarely | 16 (43) | 26 (57) | .228 | 442 (62) | 77 (58) | .406 | 34 (72) | 104 (67) | .499 |
| Sometimes or often | 21 (57) | 20 (43) | 269 (38) | 55 (42) | 13 (28) | 51 (33) | |||
| …eat at regular hours? | |||||||||
| Never or rarely | 1 (3) | 1 (2) | .876 | 4 (1) | 2 (2) | .232 | 1 (2) | 1 (1) | .369 |
| Sometimes or often | 36 (97) | 45 (98) | 707 (99) | 130 (98) | 46 (98) | 154 (99) | |||
| …refuse to eat? | |||||||||
| Never or rarely | 25 (68) | 39 (85) | .064 | 574 (81) | 89 (67) | .001 | 41 (87) | 130 (84) | .575 |
| Sometimes or often | 12 (32) | 7 (15) | 137 (19) | 43 (33) | 6 (13) | 25 (16) | |||
| …refuse to eat the right food? | |||||||||
| Never or rarely | 15 (41) | 17 (37) | .739 | 264 (37) | 43 (33) | .318 | 28 (60) | 62 (40) | .018 |
| Sometimes or often | 22 (59) | 29 (63) | 447 (63) | 89 (67) | 19 (40) | 93 (60) | |||
Values are n (%) per category of parental perception; UW: underweight; NW: normal weight; OW/OB: overweight or obese; (−): perceived leaner than they are; (=): perceived accurately; (+): perceived bigger than they are.