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Hindi Research Article
Predictors of Maternal Perceptions of their Offspring’s Weight Status During Adolescence: Evidence from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy Cohort
| Abdullah A Mamun1*, Brett M McDermott2, Munim Mannan1, Michael J O’Callaghan3, Jake M Najman1 and Gail M Williams1 | |
| 1School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia | |
| 2Kids in Mind Research: The Mater Centre for Service Research in Mental Health and Department of Psychiatry, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia | |
| 3Child Development and Rehabilitation Services, Mater Children’s Hospital, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia | |
| Corresponding Author : | Dr. Abdullah Al Mamun Associate Professor, School of Population Health Herston Rd, Herston, QLD 4006, Australia Fax: +61(0)733655599 Tel: +61(0)733464689 E-mail: mamun@sph.uq.edu.au |
| Received April 30, 2012; Accepted May 22, 2012; Published May 24, 2012 | |
| Citation: Mamun AA, McDermott BM, O’Callaghan MJ, Najman JM, Williams GM (2012) Predictors of Maternal Perceptions of Their Offspring’s Weight Status: Evidence from a Birth Cohort Study. J Obes Wt Loss Ther 2:133. doi:10.4172/2165-7904.1000133 | |
| Copyright: © 2012 Mamun AA, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
We examined the predictors of maternal perceptions on their adolescent offspring’s weight status. A mother-child linked analysis was carried out using 14 years follow-up data from a population-based prospective birth cohort of 3721 children (52% males) who born in Brisbane, Australia, between 1981 and 1983. Maternal perception of offspring weight was reported when the offspring were 14 years old and predictors were prospectively. We found that mothers perceived their adolescents’ sons were more underweight and less overweight than their daughters. The independent predictors of maternal perceptions of child overweight status were gender, maternal perceived child dissatisfaction of appearance, shape, size and weight, adolescent dieting to lose weight, their general health status, sports and maternal BMI. Mainly two factors- child health and dieting predict maternal perception of offspring underweight. This study found more child factors than family or maternal factors predict maternal perceptions of their offspring weight status. The finding that child factors are related to maternal perception should be helpful to clinicians as it suggests understanding adolescent and maternal perceptions of weight will best be achieved by a focus on current adolescent body image, dieting, behavioural problems, and parental weight status.
